Woman's  Life 

J 
Colonial  Days 

C          HOLLIDAY 


V.IBRAR  ? 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 
OF 


WOMAN'S  LIFE  IN  COLONIAL  DAYS 


WOMAN'S 
LIFE  IN  COLONIAL  DAYS 


CARL  HOLLIDAY 

Dean  of  the  College  of  Arls  and  Sciences 
Professor  of  English,  University  of  Toledo 

AUTHOR  OF 

THE  WIT  AND  HUMOR  OF  COLONIAL  DAYS,  ENGLISH 
FICTION  FROM  THE  FIFTH  TO  THE  TWENTIETH 
CENTURY,  A  HISTORY  OF  SOUTHERN  LITER 
ATURE,  THE  WRITINGS  OF  COLONIAL 
VIRGINIA,  THE  CAVALIER  POETS, 
THREE  CENTURIES  OF  SOUTH- 
ERN    POETRY,    ETC. 


THE  CORNHILL  PUBLISHING  CO. 

BOSTON 


COPYRIGHT  1922 
BY  THE  CORNHILL  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 


THE  JORDAN  &   MORE   PRESS 
BOSTON 


TO 

THAT   SOCIETY 

WHICH   HAS   SO   ZEALOUSLY 

MAINTAINED  AMERICAN    TRADITIONS 

THE  DAUGHTERS 
OF  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

THIS   BOOK 
IS   GRATEFULLY   DEDICATED 


M564058 


PREFACE 

THIS  book  is  an  attempt  to  portray  by  means  of  the 
writings  of  colonial  days  the  life  of  the  women  of  that 
period,  —  how  they  lived,  what  their  work  and  their 
play,  what  and  how  they  thought  and  felt,  their  strength 
and  their  weakness,  the  joys  and  the  sorrows  of  their 
every-day  existence.  Through  such  an  attempt  per 
haps  we  can  more  nearly  understand  how  and  why  the 
American  woman  is  what  she  is  to-day. 

For  a  long  time  to  come,  one  of  the  principal  reasons 
for  the  study  of  the  writings  of  America  will  lie,  not  in 
their  intrinsic  merit  alone,  but  in  their  revelations  of 
American  life,  ideals,  aspirations,  and  social  and  intel 
lectual  endeavors.  We  Americans  need  what  Professor 
Shorey  has  called  "  the  controlling  consciousness  of 
tradition."  We  have  not  sufficiently  regarded  the 
bond  that  connects  our  present  institutions  with  their 
origins  in  the  days  of  our  forefathers.  That  is  one  of  the 
main  purposes  of  this  study,  and  the  author  believes 
that  through  contributions  of  such  a  character  he  can 
render  the  national  intellectual  spirit  at  least  as  valuable 
a  service  as  he  could  through  a  study  of  some  legend  of 
ancient  Britain  or  some  epic  of  an  extinct  race.  As  Mr. 
Percy  Boynton  has  said,  "  To  foster  in  a  whole  genera 
tion  some  clear  recognition  of  other  qualities  in  America 
than  its  bigness,  and  of  other  distinctions  between  the 
past  and  the  present  than  that  they  are  far  apart  is  to 
contribute  towards  the  consciousness  of  a  national 


viii  Woman's  Life  m  Colonial  Days 

individuality  which  is  the  first  essential  of  national  life. 
.  .  .  We  must  put  our  minds  upon  ourselves,  we  must 
look  to  our  past  and  to  our  present,  and  then  intelli 
gently  to  our  future." 

The  author  has  endeavored  to  follow  such  advice  by 
bringing  forward  those  qualities  of  colonial  womanhood 
which  have  made  for  the  refinement,  the  intellectuality, 
the  spirit,  the  aggressiveness,  and  withal  the  genuine 
womanliness  of  the  present-day  American  woman.  As 
the  book  is  not  intended  for  scholars  alone,  the  author 
has  felt  free  when  he  had  not  original  source  material 
before  him  to  quote  now  and  then  from  the  studies  of 
writers  on  other  phases  of  colonial  life  —  such  as  the 
valuable  books  by  Dr.  Philip  Alexander  Bruce,  Dr.  John 
Bassett,  Dr.  George  Sydney  Fisher,  Charles  C.  Coffin, 
Alice  Brown,  Alice  Morse  Earle,  Anna  Hollingsworth 
Wharton,  and  Geraldine  Brooks. 

The  author  believes  that  many  misconceptions  have 
crept  into  the  mind  of  the  average  reader  concerning  the 
life  of  colonial  women  —  ideas,  for  instance,  of  unending, 
long-faced  gloom,  constant  fear  of  pleasure,  repression  of 
all  normal  emotions.  It  is  hoped  that  this  book  will  go 
far  toward  clearing  the  mind  of  the  reader  of  such 
misconceptions,  by  showing  that  woman  in  colonial 
days  knew  love  and  passion,  felt  longing  and  aspiration, 
used  the  heart  and  the  brain,  very  much  as  does  her 
descendant  of  to-day. 

For  permission  to  quote  from  the  works  mentioned 
hereafter,  the  author  wishes  to  express  his  gratitude  to 
Sydney  G.  Fisher  and  the  J.  B.  Lippincott  Company 
(Men,  Women  and  Manners  in  Colonial  Days),  Ralph  L. 
Bartlett,  executor  for  Charles  C.  Coffin  (Old  Times  in 


Preface  ix 

Colonial  Days),  Alice  Brown  and  Charles  Scribner's 
Sons  (Mercy  Warren),  Philip  Alexander  Bruce  and  the 
Macmillan  Company  (Institutional  History  of  Virginia 
in  the  Seventeenth  Century),  Anne  H.  Wharton  (Martha 
Washington),  John  Spencer  Bassett  (Writings  of  Colonel 
Byrd),  Alice  Earle  Hyde  (Alice  Morse  EarVs  Child  Life 
in  Colonial  Days),  Geraldine  Brooks  and  Thomas  Y. 
Crowell  Company  (Dames  and  Daughters  of  Colonial 
Days).  The  author  wishes  to  acknowledge  his  deep 
indebtedness  to  the  late  Sylvia  Brady  Holliday,  whose 
untiring  investigations  of  the  subject  while  a  student 
under  him  contributed  much  to  this  book. 

C.  H. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I 

COLONIAL  WOMAN  AND  RELIGION       ....      3 

I.  The  Spirit  of  Woman  —  The  Suffering  of  Women  — 
The  Era  of  Adventure  —  Privation  and  Death  in  the  First 
Colonial  Days  —  Descriptions  by  Prince,  Bradford,  Johnson, 
etc.  —  Early  Concord.  II.  Woman  and  Her  Religion  —  Its 
Unyielding  Quality  —  Its  Repressive  Effect  on  Woman  — Wig- 
glesworth's  Day  of  Doom  —  What  It  Taught  Woman  —  Neces 
sity  of  Early  Baptism  —  Edwards'  Eternity  of  Hell  Torment  — 
Sinners  in  the  Hands  of  an  Angry  God  —  Effect  on  Womanhood 
—  Personal  Devils  —  Dangers  of  Earthly  Love  —  God's 
Sudden  Punishments.  III.  Inherited  Nervousness  —  Fears 
in  Childhood  —  Theological  Precocity.  IV.  Woman's  Day 
of  Rest  —  Sabbath  Rules  and  Customs  —  A  Typical  Sabbath. 
I  V.  Religion  and  Women's  Foibles  —  Religious  Regulations  — 
{  Effect  on  Dress  —  Women's  Singing  in  Church  —  Southern 
Opinion  of  Northern  Severity  —  Effect  of  Feminine  Repression. 
VI.  Women's  Comfort  in  Religion  —  An  Intolerant  Era  — 
Religious  Gatherings  for  Women  —  Formal  Meetings  with  Mrs. 
Hutchinson  —  Causes  of  Complaint  —  Meetings  of  Quaker 
Women.  VII.  Female  Rebellion — The  Antinomians  —  Activ 
ities  of  Anne  Hutchinson  —  Her  Doctrines  —  Her  Banishment 
—  Emotional  Starvation  —  Dread  of  Heresy  —  Anne  Hutchin- 
son's  Death.  VIII.  Woman  and  Witchcraft  —  Universal 
Belief  in  Witchcraft  —  Signs  of  Witchcraft  —  Causes  of  the 
Belief  —  Lack  of  Recreation  —  Origin  of  Witchcraft  Mania  — 
Echoes  from  the  Trials  —  Waning  of  the  Mania.  IX.  Religion 
Outside  of  New  England  —  First  Church  in  Virginia  —  South 
ern  Strictness  —  Woman's  Religious  Testimony  —  Religious 
Sanity  —  The  Dutch  Church  —  General  Conclusions. 

CHAPTER  II 

COLONIAL  WOMAN  AND  EDUCATION  .        .        .        .70 

I.  Feminine  Ignorancg  — -  Reasons  —  The  Evidence  in  Court 
Records  —  Dame's  Schools  —  School  Curriculum  —  Training 
in  Home  Duties.  II.  Woman's  Education  in  the  "South  — 
Jefferson's  Advice  —  Private  Tutors  —  General  Interest  in 
Education  —  Provision  in  Wills.  III.  Brilliant  Exceptions 
to  Female  Ignorance  —  Southern  and  Northern  Women  Con 
trasted  —  Unusual  Studies  for  Women  —  Eliza  Pinckney  — 


xii  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

Jane  Turrell —  Abigail  Adams.  IV.  Practical  Education  — 
Abigail  Adams'  Opinion  —  Importance  Of  BuoktCBptng  — 
Franklin's  Advice.  V.  Educational  Frills  —  Female  Semi 
naries  —  Moravian  Schools  —  Dancing  —  Etiauette  —  Rules 
for  Eating  —  Mechanical  Aids  Toward  Uprightness  —  Com 
plaints  of  Educational  Poverty  —  Fancy  Sewing  —  General 
Conclusions. 

CHAPTER  III 

COLONIAL  WOMAN  AND  THE  HOME  ...  .95 
I.  Charm  of  the  Colonial  Home  —  Lack  of  Counter  Attrac 
tions  —  Neither  Saints  nor  Sinners  in  the  Home.  II.  Domes 
tic  Love  and  Confidence  —  The  Winthrop  Love  Letters  — 
Edwards'  Rhapsody  —  Further  Examples  —  Descriptions  of 
Home  Life  —  Mrs.  Washington  and  Mrs.  Hamilton  at  Home. 
III.  Domestic  Toil  and  Strain  —  South  vs.  North  —  Lack  of 
Conveniences  —  Silver  and  Linen  —  Colonial  Cooking  —  Cook 
ing  Utensils  —  Specimen  Meals  —  Home  Manufactures.  IV. 
Domestic  Pride  —  Effect  of  Anti-British  Sentiment  —  Spinning 
Circles  —  Dress-Making.  V.  Special  Domestic  Tasks  —  Sup 
plying  Necessities  —  Candles  —  Soap  —  Herbs  —  Neighborly 
Co-operation  —  Social  "  Bees."  VI.  The  Size  of  the  Family- 
Large  Families  an  Asset  —  Astonishing  Examples  —  Infant 
Death-Rate  —  Children  as  Workers.  VII.  Indian  Attacks 

—  Suffering  of  Captive  Women  —  Mary  Rowlandson's  Account 

—  Returning    the    Kidnapped.     VIII.     Parental    Training  — 
Co-operation  Between  Parents  —  Cotton  Mather  as  Disciplina 
rian  —  Sewall's  Methods  —  Eliza  Pinckney's  Motherliness  — 

—  New  York   Mothers  —  Abigail  Adams  to   Her  Son.     IX. 
Tributes  to  Colonial  Mothers  —  Judge  Sewall's  Noble  Words  — 
Other  Specimens  of  W aise ' —  John  Lawson's  Views  — *  Woman's 
Strengthening  Influence.     X.     Interest  in  the  Home  —  Frank 
lin's  Interest  —  Evidence  from  Jefferson  —  Sewall's  Affection  — 
Washington's  Relaxation  —  John  Adams  with  the  Children  — 
Examples    of    Considerateness  —  Mention    of    Gifts.      XI. 
Woman's  Sphere  —  Opposition  to  Broader  Activities  —  A  Sad 
Example  —  Opinions  of  Colonial  Leaders  — 

4  *X"L      TT  Cl      1~  TTT  y         TT     1      .C     1  * 


lin  —  Abigail  Adams  as  Manager  —  General  Conclusions. 

CHAPTER  IV 
COLONIAL  WOMAN  AND  DRESS 152 

I.  Dress  Regulations  by  Law  —  Magistrates  vs.  Women  — 
Fines.  II.  Contemporary  Descriptions  of  Dress — Effect 
of  Wealth  and  Travel  —  Madame  Knight's  Descriptions  — 


Contents  xiii 

Testimony  by  Sewall,  Franklin,  Abigail  Adams.  III.  Raillery 
and  Scolding  —  Nathaniel  Ward  on  Woman's  Costume  — 
Newspaper  Comments  —  Advertisement  of  Hoop  Petticoats  — 
Evidence  on  the  Size  of  Hoops  —  Hair-Dressing  —  Feminine 
Replies  to  Raillery.  IV.  Extravagance  in  Dress  —  Chastel- 
lux's  Opinion  —  Evidence  from  Account  Books  —  Children's 
Dress  —  Fashions  in  Philadelphia  and  New  York  —  A  Gentle 
man's  Dress  —  Dolly  Madison's  Costume  —  The  Meschianza  — 
A  Ball  Dress  —  Dolls  as  Models  —  Men's  Jokes  on  Dress  —  In 
crease  in  Cost  of  Raiment. 

CHAPTER  V 

COLONIAL  WOMAN  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE          .        .        .174 

I.  Southern  Isolation  and  Hospitality  —  Progress  through 
Wealth  —  Care-free  Life  of  the  South  —  Social  Effect  of 
Tobacco  Raising  —  Historians'  Opinions  of  the  Social  Life  — 
Early  Growth  of  Virginia  Hospitality  —  John  Hammond's 
Description  in  1656  —  Effect  of  Cavalier  Blood  —  Beverly's 
Description  of  Virginia  Social  Life  —  Foreign  Opinions  of 
Virginia  Luxury  and  Culture.  II.  Splendor  in  the  Home  — 
Fithian's  Description  of  a  Southern  Mansion  —  Elegant 
Furnishings  of  the  Time.  III.  Social  Activities  —  Evidence 
in  Invitations  —  Eliza  Pinckney's  Opinion  of  Carolinians  — 
Open-House  —  Washington's  Hospitable  Record  —  Art  and 
Music  in  the  South  —  A  Reception  to  a  Bride  —  Old-Time 
Refreshments  —  Informal  Visiting  —  A  Letter  by  Mrs.  Wash 
ington  —  Social  Effects  of  Slow  Travel.  IV.  New  England 
Social  Life  —  Social  Influence  of  Public  Opinion  —  Cautious 
Attitude  Toward  Pleasure  —  Social  Origin  of  Yankee  Inquisi- 
tiveness  —  Sewall's  Records  of  Social  Affairs  —  Pynchon's 
Records  of  a  Century  Later.  V.  Funerals  as  Recreations  — 
Grim  Pleasure  in  Attending  —  Funeral  Cards  —  Gifts  of  Gloves, 
Rings,  and  Scarfs  —  Absence  of  Depression  —  Records  of 
Sewall's  Attendance  —  Wane  of  Gift-Giving  —  A  New  Amster 
dam  Funeral.  VI.  Trials  and  Executions  —  Puritan  Itching 
for  Morbid  and  Sensational  —  Frankness  of  Descriptions  — 
Treatment  of  Condemned  Criminals  —  The  Public  at  Execu 
tions  —  Sewall's  Description  of  an  Execution  —  Coming  of 
More  Normal  Entertainments  —  The  Dancing  Master  Arrives. 
VII.  Special  Social  Days  —  Lecture  Day  —  Prayers  for  the 
Afflicted  —  Fast  Days  —  Scant  Attention  to  Thanksgiving  and 
Christmas  —  How  Bradford  Stopped  Christmas  Observation  — 
Sewall's  Records  of  Christmas  —  A  Century  Later.  VIII. 
Social  Restrictions  —  Josselyn's  Account  of  New  England 
Restraints  —  Growing  Laxity  —  Sarah  Knight's  Description  — 
Severity  in  1780  —  Laws  Against  Lodging  Relatives  of  the 


xiv  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

Opposite  Sex  —  What  Could  not  be  Done  in  1650  —  Husking 
Parties  and  Other  Community  Efforts.  IX.  Dutch  Social 
Life  —  Its  Pleasant  Familiarity  —  Mrs.  Grant's  Descriptions  of 
Early  New  York  —  Normal  Pleasures  —  Love  of  Flowers  and 
Children  —  Love  of  Eating  —  Mrs.  Grant's  Record  —  Disre 
gard  for  Religion  —  Mating  the  Children  —  Picnicking  —  Pecu 
liar  Customs  at  Dutch  Funerals.  X.  British  Social  Influences 
—  Increase  of  Wealth  —  The  Schuyler^ifome  — Mingling  of 
Gaiety  and  Economy  —  A  Description  in  1757  —  Foreign 
Astonishment  at  New  York  Display  —  Richness  of  Woman's 
Adornment  —  Card-Playing  and  Dancing  —  Gambling  in  So 
ciety.  XI.  Causes  of  Display  and  Frivolity  —  Washington's 
Punctiliousness  —  Mrs.  Washington's  Dislike  of  Stateliness  — 
Disgust  of  the  Democratic  —  Senator  Maclay's  Description  of 
a  Dinner  by  Washington  —  Permanent  Benefit  of  Washington's 
Formality  —  Elizabeth  Southgate's  Record  of  New  York  Pas 
times.  XII.  Society  in  Philadelphia  —  Social  Welcome  for 
the  British  —  Early  Instruction  in  Dancing  —  Formal  Dancing 
Assemblies.  XIII.  The  Beauty  of  Philadelphia  Women  — 
Abigail  Adams'  Description  —  The  Accomplished  Mrs.  Bing- 
ham  —  Introduction  of  Social  Fads  —  Contrasts  with  New 
York  Belles.  XIV.  Social  Functions  —  Lavish  Use  of  Wealth 
at  Philadelphia  —  Washington's  Birthday  —  Martha  Washing 
ton  in  Philadelphia  —  Domestic  Ability  of  the  Belles  —  Frank 
lin  and  his  Daughter  —  General  Wayne's  Statement  about 
Philadelphia  Gaiety.  XV.  Theatrical  Performances  —  Their 
Growth  in  Popularity  —  Washington's  Liking  for  Them  — 
Mrs.  Adams'  Description  —  First  Performance  in  New  York, 
Charleston,  WiUmmsburg,  Baltimore  —  Invading  the  Stage  — 
Throwing  Missiles.  XVI.  Strange  Customs  in  Louisiana  — 
Passion  for  Pleasure  —  Influence  of  Creoles  and  Negroes  — 
Habitat  for  Sailors  and  West  Indian  Ruffians  —  Reasons  for 
Vice  —  Accounts  by  Berquin  -Duvallon  —  Commonness  of 
Concubinage  —  Alliott's  Description  —  Reasons  for  Aversion 
to  Marriage  —  Corruptness  of  Fathers  and  Sons  —  Drawing 
the  Color  Line  —  Race  Prejudice  at  Balls  —  Fine  Qualities  of 
Louisiana  White  Women  —  Excess  in  Dress  —  Lack  of  Educa 
tion  —  Berquin-Duvallon's  Disgust  —  The  Murder  of  Babes  — 
General  Conclusions. 

CHAPTER  VI 

COLONIAL  WOMAN  AND  MARRIAGE  ....    227 

I.  New  England  Weddings  —  Lack  of  Ceremony  and 
Merrymaking  —  Freedom  of  Choice  for  Women  —  The 
Parents'  Permission  —  Evidence  from  Sewall  —  Penalty  for 
Toying  with  the  Heart  —  The  Dowry.  II.  Judge  Sewall's 
Courtships  —  Independence  of  Colonial  Women  —  Sewall  and 


Contents 


XV 


Madam  Winthrop  —  His  Friends'  Urgings  —  His  Marriage  to 
Mrs.  Tilley  —  Madam  Winthrop's  Hard-Hearted  Manner  — 
Sewall  Looks  Elsewhere  for  a  Wife  —  Success  Again.  III. 
Liberty  to  Choose  —  Eliza  Pinckney's  Letter  on  the  Matter  — 
Betty  SewalTs  Rejection  of  Lovers.  IV.  The  Banns  and  the 
Ceremony  —  Banns  Required  in  Nearly  all  Colonies  —  Preju 
dice  against  the  Service  of  Preachers  —  Sewall's  Descriptions  of 
Weddings  —  Sewall's  Efforts  to  Prevent  Preachers  from  Officiat 
ing  —  Refreshments  at  Weddings  —  Increase  in  Hilarity. 
V.  Matrimonial  Restrictions  —  Reasons  for  Them  —  Fre 
quency  of  Bigamy  —  Monthly  Fines  —  Marriage  with  Rela- ' 
tives.  VI.  Spinsters  —  Youthful  Marriages  —  Bachelors  and 
Spinsters  Viewed  with  Suspicion  —  Fate  of  Old  Maids —  i 
Description  of  a  Boston  Spinster.  VII.  Separation  and 
Divorce  —  Rarity  of  Them  —  Separation  in  Sewall's  Family  — 
Its  Tragedy  and  Comedy.  VIII.  Marriage  in  Pennsylvania 
—  Approach  Toward  Laxness  —  Ben  Franklin's  Marriage  — 
Quaker  Marriages  —  Strange  Mating  among  Moravians  — 
Dutch  Marriages.  IX.  Marriage  in  the  South  —  Church 
Service  Required  by  Public  Sentiment  —  Merrymaking  — 
Buying  Wives  —  Indented  Servants  —  John  Hammond's  Ac 
count  of  Them.  X.  Romance  in  Marriage  —  Benedict  Ar 
nold's  Proposal  —  Hamilton's  Opinion  of  His  "  Betty  "  -  The  ^ 
Charming  Romance  of  Agnes  Surrage.  XI.  Feminine  Inde-x 
pendence  —  Treason  at  the  Tongue's  End  —  Independence  of 
the  Schuyler  Girls.  XII.  Matrimonial  Advice  —  Jane  Tur- 
ell's  Advice  to  Herself.  XIII.  Matrimonial  Irregularities  — 
Frequency  of  Them  —  Cause  of  Such  Troubles  —  Winthrop's 
Records  of  Cases  —  Death  as  a  Penalty  —  Law  against  Mar 
riage  of  Relatives  —  No  Discrimination  in  Punishment  because 
of  Sex  —  Sewall's  Accounts  of  Executions  —  Use  of  the  Scarlet 
Letter  —  Records  by  Howard  —  Custom  of  Bundling  —  Its 
Origin  —  Adultery  between  Indented  White  Women  and 
Negroes  —  Punishment  in  Virginia  —  Instances  of  the  Social 
Evil  in  New  England  —  Less  Shame  among  Colonial  Men. 
XIV.  Violent  Speech  and  Action  —  Rebellious  Speech  against 
the  Church  —  Amazonian  Wives  —  Citations  from  Court 
Records  —  Punishment  for  Slander. 

CHAPTER  VII 

COLONIAL  WOMAN  AND  THE  INITIATIVE  .        .        .291 

/I.)  Religious  Initiative  —  Anne  Hutchinson's  Use  of  Brains 

^  Bravery  of  Quaker  Women  —  Perseverance  of  Mary  Dyer  — 

Martyrdom     of     Quakers.    QJ      Commercial     Initiative  — 

Dabbling  in  State  Affairs  —  Women  as  Merchants  —  Mrs. 

Franklin  in  Business  —  Pay  for  Women  Teachers  —  Women 


xvi  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

as  Plantation  Managers  —  Example  of  Eliza  Pinckney  — 
Her  Busy  Day  —  Martha  Washington  as  Manager.  III. 
Woman's  Legal  Powers  —  Right  to  Own  and  Will  Property  — 
John  Todd's  Will  —  A  Church  Attempts  to  Cheat  a  Woman  — 
Astonishing  Career  of  J^argaret  Brent  —  Women  Fortify 
Boston  Neck — Tompson's  BalFr^olTft— Teminine  Initiative  at 
Nantucket.  IV.  Patriotic  Initiative  and  Courage  —  Evidence 
from  Letters  —  The  Anxiety  of  the  Women  —  Women  Near  the 
Firing-Line  —  Mrs.  Adams  in  Danger  —  Martha  Washington's 
Valor  —  Mrs.  Pinckney's  Optimism  —  Her  Financial  Dis 
tress  —  Entertaining  the  Enemy  —  Marion's  Escape  —  Mrs. 
Pinckney's  Presence  of  Mind  —  Abigail  Adams'  Brave  Words  — 
Her  Description  of  a  Battle  —  Man's  Appreciation  of  Woman's 
Bravery  —  Mercy  Warren's  Calmness  —  Catherine  Schuyler's 
Valiant  Deed  —  How  She  Treated  Burgoyne  —  Some  General 
Conclusions. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 313 

INDEX  .  .  315 


WOMAN'S  LIFE  IN  COLONIAL  DAYS 


Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

CHAPTER  I 
COLONIAL  WOMAN  AND  RELIGION 

/.     The  Spirit  of  Woman 

With  what  a  valiant  and  unyielding  spirit  our  fore 
fathers  met  the  unspeakable  hardships  of  the  first  days 
of  American  colonization!  We  of  these  softer  and  more 
abundant  times  can  never  quite  comprehend  what  dis 
tress,  what  positive  suffering  those  bold  souls  of  the 
seventeenth  century  endured  to  establish  a  new  people 
among  the  nations  of  the  world.  The  very  voyage 
from  England  to  America  might  have  daunted  the  brav 
est  of  spirits.  Note  but  this  glimpse  from  an  account  by 
Colonel  Norwood  in  his  Voyage  to  Virginia:  "  Women 
and  children  made  dismal  cries  and  grievous  complaints. 
The  infinite  number  of  rats  that  all  the  voyage  had  been 
our  plague,  we  now  were  glad  to  make  our  prey  to  feed 
on;  and  as  they  were  insnared  and  taken  a  well  grown 
rat  was  sold  for  sixteen  shillings  as  a  market  rate.  Nay, 
before  the  voyage  did  end  (as  I  was  credibly  informed) 
a  woman  great  with  child  offered  twenty  shillings  for  a 
rat,  which  the  proprietor  refusing,  the  woman  died." 

That  was  an  era  of  restless,  adventurous  spirits  — 
men  and  women  filled  with  the  rich  and  danger-loving 


4  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

blood  of  the  Elizabethan  day.  We  should  recall  that 
every  colony  of  the  original  thirteen,  except  Georgia, 
was  founded  in  the  seventeenth  century  when  the  energy 
of  that  great  and  versatile  period  of  the  Virgin  Queen 
had  not  yet  dissipated  itself.  The  spirit  that  moved 
Ben  Jonson  and  Shakespeare  to  undertake  the  new  and 
untried  in  literature  was  the  same  spirit  that  moved 
John  Smith  and  his  cavaliers  to  invade  the  Virginia 
wilderness,  and  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  to  found  a  common 
wealth  for  freedom's  sake  on  a  stern  and  rock-bound 
coast.  It  was  the  day  of  Milton,  Dryden,  and  Bunyan, 
the  day  of  the  Protectorate  with  its  fanatical  defenders, 
the  day  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  British  Puritanism,  the 
day  of  the  Revolution  of  1688  which  forever  doomed  the 
theory  of  the  divine  rights  of  monarchs,  the  day  of  the 
bloody  Thirty  Years'  War  with  its  consequent  downfall 
of  aristocracy,  the  day  of  the  Grand  Monarch  in  France 
with  its  accumulating  preparations  for  the  destruction  of 
kingly  rights  and  the  rise  of  the  Commons. 

In  such  an  age  we  can  but  expect  bold  adventures. 
The  discovery  and  exploration  of  the  New  World  and  the 
defeat  of  the  Spanish  Armada  had  now  made  England 
monarch  of  sea  and  land.  The  imagination  of  the  people 
was  aroused,  and  tales  of  a  wealth  like  that  of  Croesus 
came  from  mariners  who  had  sailed  the  seven  seas, 
and  were  willingly  believed  by  an  excited  audience. 
Indeed  the  nations  stood  ready  with  open-mouthed 
wonder  to  accept  all  stories,  no  matter  how  marvelous 
or  preposterous.  America  suddenly  appeared  to  all 
people  as  the  land  that  offered  wealth,  religious  and 
political  freedom,  a  home  for  the  poor,  a  refuge  for  the 
persecuted,  in  truth,  a  paradise  for  all  who  would  begin 


Colonial   Woman  and  Religion  5 

life  anew.  With  such  a  vision  and  with  such  a  spirit 
many  came.  The  same  energy  that  created  a  Lear  and 
a  Hamlet  created  a  Jamestown  and  a  Plymouth.  Shake 
speare  was  at  the  height  of  his  career  when  Jamestown 
was  settled,  and  had  been  dead  less  than  five  years  when 
the  Puritans  landed  at  Plymouth.  Impelled  by  the 
soul  of  such  a  day  Puritan  and  Cavalier  sought  the  new 
land,  hoping  to  find  there  that  which  they  had  been 
unable  to  attain  in  the  Old  World. 

While  from  the  standpoint  of  years  the  Cavalier  colony 
at  Jamestown  might  be  entitled  to  the  first  discussion, 
it  is  with  the  Puritans  that  we  shall  begin  this  investiga 
tion.  For,  with  the  Puritan  Fathers  came  the  Puritan 
Mothers,  and  while  the  influence  of  those  fathers  on 
American  civilization  has  been  too  vast  ever  to  be 
adequately  described,  the  influence  of  those  brave 
pioneer  women,  while  less  ostentatious,  is  none  the  less 
powerful. 

What  perils,  what  distress,  what  positive  torture,  not 
only  physical  but  mental,  those  first  mothers  of  America 
experienced!  Sickness  and  famine  were  their  daily 
portion  in  life.  Their  children,  pushing  ever  westward, 
also  underwent  untold  toil  and  distress,  but  not  to  the 
degree  known  by  those  founders  of  New  England;  for 
when  the  settlements  of  the  later  seventeenth  century 
were  established  some  part  of  the  rawness  and  newness 
had  worn  away,  friends  were  not  far  distant,  supplies 
were  not  wanting  for  long  periods,  and  if  the  privations 
were  intense,  there  were  always  the  original  settlements 
to  fall  back  upon.  Hear  what  Thomas  Prince  in  his 
Annals  of  New  England,  published  in  1726,  has  to  say 
of  those  first  days  in  the  Plymouth  Colony: 


6  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

"March  24.  (1621)  N.  B.  This  month  Thirteen 
of  our  number  die.  And  in  three  months  past  die  Half 
our  Company.  The  greatest  part  in  the  depth  of  winter, 
wanting  houses  and  other  comforts;  being  infected  with 
the  scurvy  and  other  diseases,  which  their  long  voyage 
and  unaccommodate  conditions  bring  upon  them.  So 
as  there  die,  sometimes,  two  or  three  a  day.  Of  one 
hundred  persons,  scarce  fifty  remain.  The  living 
scarce  able  to  bury  the  dead;  the  well  not  sufficient  to 
tend  the  sick:  there  being,  in  their  time  of  greatest 
distress,  but  six  or  seven;  who  spare  no  pains  to  help 
them.  .  .  .  But  the  spring  advancing,  it  pleases  GOD, 
the  mortality  begins  to  cease;  and  the  sick  and  lame  to 
recover:  which  puts  new  life  into  the  people;  though 
they  had  borne  their  sad  affliction  with  as  much  patience 
as  any  could  do."1 

Indeed,  as  we  read  of  that  struggle  with  famine, 
sickness,  and  death  during  the  first  few  years  of  the 
Plymouth  Colony  we  can  but  marvel  that  human  flesh 
and  human  soul  could  withstand  the  onslaught.  The 
brave  old  colonist  Bradford,  confirms  in  his  History 
of  Plymouth  Plantation  the  stories  told  by  others:  "  But 
that  which  was  most  sad  and  lamentable,  was  that  in 
two  or  three  months'  time  half  of  their  company  died, 
especially  in  January  and  February,  being  the  depth  of 
winter  .  .  .  that  of  one  hundred  and  odd  persons  scarce 
fifty  remained :  and  of  these  in  the  time  of  most  distress 
there  was  but  six  or  seven  sound  persons;  who  to  their 
great  commendations,  be  it  spoken,  spared  no  pains, 
night  nor  day,  but  with  abundance  of  toil  and  hazard 
of  their  own  health,  fetched  them  wood,  made  them  fires, 

»  Reprinted  in  English  Garner,  Vol.  II,  p.  429. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Religion  7 

...  in  a  word  did  all  the  homely,  and  necessary  offices 
for  them." 

The  conditions  were  the  same  whether  in  the  Plymouth 
or  in  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony.  And  yet  how 
brave  —  how  pathetically  brave  —  was  the  colonial 
woman  under  every  affliction.  In  hours  when  a  less 
valiant  womanhood  would  have  sunk  in  despair  these 
wives  and  mothers  strengthened  one  another  and  praised 
God  for  the  humble  sustenance  He  allowed  them.  The 
sturdy  colonist,  Edward  Johnson,  in  his  Wonder  Work 
ing  Providence  of  Zions  Saviour  in  New  England,  writing 
of  the  privations  of  1631,  the  year  after  his  colony  had 
been  founded,  pays  this  tribute  to  the  helpmeets  of  the 
men: 

"  The  women  once  a  day,  as  the  tide  gave  way,  resorted 
to  the  mussels,  and  clambanks,  which  are  a  fish  as  big 
as  horse-mussels,  where  they  daily  gathered  their  families' 
food  with  much  heavenly  discourse  of  the  provisions 
Christ  had  formerly  made  for  many  thousands  of  his 
followers  in  the  wilderness.  Quoth  one,  *  My  husband 
hath  travelled  as  far  as  Plymouth  (which  is  near  forty 
miles) ,  and  hath  with  great  toil  brought  a  little  corn  home 
with  him,  and  before  that  is  spent  the  Lord  will  assuredly 
provide.'  Quoth  the  other,  '  Our  last  peck  of  meal  is 
now  in  the  oven  at  home  a-baking,  and  many  of  our 
godly  neighbors  have  quite  spent  all,  and  we  owe  one 
loaf  of  that  little  we  have.'  Then  spake  a  third,  '  My 
husband  hath  ventured  himself  among  the  Indians  for 
corn,  and  can  get  none,  as  also  our  honored  Governor 
hath  distributed  his  so  far,  that  a  day  or  two  more  will 
put  an  end  to  his  store,  and  all  the  rest,  and  yet  me- 
thinks  our  children  are  as  cheerful,  fat  and  lusty  with 


8  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

feeding  upon  these  mussels,  clambanks,  and  other  fish, 
as  they  were  in  England  with  their  fill  of  bread,  which 
makes  me  cheerful  in  the  Lord's  providing  for  us,  being 
further  confirmed  by  the  exhortation  of  our  pastor  to 
trust  the  Lord  with  providing  for  us ;  whose  is  the  earth 
and  the  fulness  thereof.'  ' 

It  is  a  genuine  pleasure  to  us  of  little  faith  to  note  that 
such  trust  was  indeed  justified;  for,  continues  Johnson: 
"  As  they  were  encouraging  one  another  in  Christ's 
careful  providing  for  them,  they  lift  up  their  eyes  and 
saw  two  ships  coming  in,  and  presently  this  news  came 
to  their  ears,  that  they  were  come  —  full  of  victuals.  .  .  . 
After  this  manner  did  Christ  many  times  graciously 
provide  for  this  His  people,  even  at  the  last  cast." 

If  we  will  stop  to  consider  the  fact  that  many  of  these 
women  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  were  accus 
tomed  to  the  comfortable  living  of  the  middle-class 
country  people  of  England,  with  considerable  material 
wealth  and  even  some  of  the  luxuries  of  modern  civiliza 
tion,  we  may  imagine,  at  least  in  part,  the  terrifying 
contrast  met  with  in  the  New  World.  For  conditions 
along  the  stormy  coast  of  New  England  were  indeed 
primitive.  Picture  the  founding,  for  instance,  of  a 
town  that  later  was  destined  to  become  the  home  of 
philosopher  and  seer  —  Concord,  Massachusetts.  Says 
Johnson  in  his  Wonder  Working  Providence: 

"  After  they  had  thus  found  out  a  place  of  abode  they 
burrow  themselves  in  the  earth  for  their  first  shelter, 
under  some  hillside,  casting  the  earth  aloft  upon  timber; 
they  make  a  smoke  fire  against  the  earth  at  the  highest 
side  and  thus  these  poor  servants  of  Christ  provide 
shelter  for  themselves,  their  wives  and  little  ones,  keep- 


Colonial   Woman  and  Religion  9 

ing  off  the  short  showers  from  their  lodgings,  but  the 
long  rains  penetrate  through  to  their  great  disturbance 
in  the  night  season.  Yet  in  these  poor  wigwams  they 
sing  psalms,  pray  and  praise  their  God  till  they  can 
provide  them  houses,  which  ordinarily  was  not  wont  to 
be  with  many  till  the  earth  by  the  Lord's  blessing  brought 
forth  bread  to  feed  them,  their  wives  and  little  ones.  .  .  . 
Thus  this  poor  people  populate  this  howling  desert, 
marching  manfully  on,  the  Lord  assisting,  through  the 
greatest  difficulties  and  sorest  labors  that  ever  any  with 
such  weak  means  have  done." 

And  Margaret  Winthrop  writes  thus  to  her  step-son 
in  England:  "  When  I  think  of  the  troublesome  times 
and  manyfolde  destractions  that  are  in  our  native 
Countrye,  I  thinke  we  doe  not  pryse  oure  happinesse 
heare  as  we  have  cause,  that  we  should  be  in  peace  when 
so  many  troubles  are  in  most  places  of  the  world." 

Many  another  quotation  could  be  presented  to  empha 
size  the  impressions  given  above.  Reading  these  after 
the  lapse  of  nearly  three  centuries,  we  marvel  at  the 
strength,  the  patience,  the  perseverance,  the  imperisha 
ble  hope,  trust,  and  faith  of  the  Puritan  woman.  Such 
hardships  and  privations  as  have  been  described  above 
might  seem  sufficient;  but  these  were  by  no  means  all 
or  even  the  greatest  of  the  trials  of  womanhood  in  the 
days  of  the  nation's  childhood.  To  understand  in  any 
measure  at  all  the  life  of  a  child  or  a  wife  or  a  mother  of 
the  Puritan  colonies  with  its  strain  and  suffering,  we 
must  know  and  comprehend  her  religion.  Let  us  ex 
amine  this  —  the  dominating  influence  of  her  life. 


10  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

II.     Woman  and  Her  Religion 

Paradoxical  as  it  may  seem,  religion  was  to  the 
colonial  woman  both  a  blessing  and  a  curse.  Though 
it  gave  courage  and  some  comfort  it  was  as  hard  and 
unyielding  as  steel.  We  of  this  later  hour  may  well 
shudder  when  we  read  the  sermons  of  Cotton  Mather 
and  Jonathan  Edwards;  but  if  the  mere  reading  causes 
astonishment  after  the  lapse  of  these  hundreds  of  years, 
what  terror  the  messages  must  have  inspired  in  those 
who  lived  under  their  terrific  indictments,  prophecies, 
and  warnings.  Here  was  a  religion  based  on  Judaism 
and  the  Mosaic  code,  "  an  eye  for  an  eye,  and  a  tooth  for 
a  tooth."  Moses  Coit  Tyler  has  declared  in  his  History 
of  American  Literature'?  "  They  did  not  attempt  to 
combine  the  sacred  and  the  secular;  they  simply  abol 
ished  the  secular  and  left  only  the  sacred.  The  state 
became  the  church;  the  king  a  priest;  politics  a  depart 
ment  of  theology;  citizenship  the  privilege  of  those  only 
who  had  received  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper." 

And  what  an  idea  of  the  sacred  was  theirs!  The 
gentleness,  the  mercy,  the  loving  kindness  that  are  of 
God  so  seldom  enter  into  those  ancient  discussions  that 
such  attributes  are  almost  negligible.  Michael  Wiggles- 
worth's  poem,  The  Day  of  Doom,  published  in  1662,  may 
be  considered  as  an  authoritative  treatise  on  the  theology 
of  the  Puritans;  for  it  not  only  was  so  popular  as  to 
receive  several  reprints,  but  was  sanctioned  by  the  elders 
of  the  church  themselves.  If  this  was  orthodoxy  — 
and  the  proof  that  it  was  is  evident  —  -  it  was  of  a  sort 
that  might  well  sour  and  embitter  the  nature  of  man 
and  fill  the  gentle  soul  of  womanhood  with  fear  and  dark 

*  Vol.  I,  p.  101. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Religion  11 

forebodings.  We  well  know  that  the  Puritans  thor 
oughly  believed  that  man's  nature  was  weak  and  sinful, 
and  that  the  human  soul  was  a  prisoner  placed  here 
upon  earth  by  the  Creator  to  be  surrounded  with  tempta 
tions.  This  God  is  good,  however,  in  that  he  has  given 
man  an  opportunity  to  overcome  the  surrounding  evils. 

"  But  I'm  a  prisoner, 

Under  a  heavy  chain; 
Almighty  God's  afflicting  hand, 
Doth  me  by  force  restrain. 

"  But  why  should  I  complain 
That  have  so  good  a  God, 
That  doth  mine  heart  with  comfort  fill 
Ev'n  whilst  I  feel  his  rod? 

"  Let  God  be  magnified, 

Whose  everlasting  strength 
Upholds  me  under  sufferings 

Of  more  than  ten  years'  length." 

The  Day  of  Doom  is,  in  the  main,  its  author's  vision  of 
judgment  day,  and,  whatever  artistic  or  theological 
defects  it  may  have,  it  undeniably  possesses  realism. 
For  instance,  several  stanzas  deal  with  one  of  the  most 
dreadful  doctrines  of  the  Puritan  faith,  that  all  infants 
who  died  unbaptized  entered  into  eternal  torment  — 
a  theory  that  must  have  influenced  profoundly  the  happi 
ness  and  woe  of  colonial  women.  The  poem  describes 
for  us  what  was  then  believed  should  be  the  scene  on 
that  final  day  when  young  and  old,  heathen  and  Chris 
tian,  saint  and  sinner,  are  called  before  their  God  to 
answer  for  their  conduct  in  the  flesh.  Hear  the  plea  of 
the  infants,  who,  dying  at  birth  before  baptism  could  be 


12  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

administered,  asked  to  be  relieved  from  punishment  on 
the  grounds  that  they  have  committed  no  sin. 

"  If  for  our  own  transgression, 

or  disobedience, 
We  here  did  stand  at  thy  left  hand, 

just  were  the  Recompense; 
But  Adam's  guilt  our  souls  hath  spilt, 

his  fault  is  charg'd  upon  us; 
And  that  alone  hath  overthrown  and  utterly 

undone  us." 

Pointing  out  that  it  was  Adam  who  ate  of  the  tree  and 
that  they  were  innocent,  they  ask: 

"  O  great  Creator,  why  was  our  nature 

depraved  and  forlorn? 
Why  so  defil'd,  and  made  so  vil'd, 

whilst  we  were  yet  unborn? 
If  it  be  just,  and  needs  we  must 

transgressors  reckon'd  be, 
Thy  mercy,  Lord,  to  us  afford, 

which  sinners  hath  set  free." 

But  the  Creator  answers: 

"  God  doth  such  doom  forbid, 
That  men  should  die  eternally 

for  what  they  never  did. 
But  what  you  call  old  Adam's  fall, 

and  only  his  trespass, 
You  call  amiss  to  call  it  his, 

both  his  and  yours  it  was." 

The  Judge  then  inquires  why,  since  they  would  have 
received  the  pleasures  and  joys  which  Adam  could  have 
given  them,  the  rewards  and  blessings,  should  they 
hesitate  to  share  his  "  treason." 


Colonial   Woman  and  Religion  13 

"  Since  then  to  share  in  his  welfare, 

you  could  have  been  content, 
You  may  with  reason  share  in  his  treason, 

and  in  the  punishment, 
Hence  you  were  born  in  state  forlorn, 

with  natures  so  depraved 
Death  was  your  due  because  that  you 

had  thus  yourselves  behaved. 

"  Had  you  been  made  in  Adam's  stead, 

you  would  like  things  have  wrought, 
And  so  into  the  self-same  woe 

yourselves  and  yours  have  brought." 

Then  follows  a  reprimand  upon  the  part  of  the  Judge 
because  they  should  presume  to  question  His  judgments, 
and  to  ask  for  mercy: 

"  Will  you  demand  grace  at  my  hand, 

and  challenge  what  is  mine? 

Will  you  teach  me  whom  to  set  free, 

and  thus  my  grace  confine. 

"  You  sinners  are,  and  such  a  share 

as  sinners  may  expect; 
Such  you  shall  have,  for  I  do  save 
none  but  mine  own  Elect. 

"  Yet  to  compare  your  sin  with  theirs 

who  liv'd  a  longer  time, 
I  do  confess  yours  is  much  less 
though  every  sin's  a  crime. 

"  A  crime  it  is,  therefore  in  bliss 

you  may  not  hope  to  dwell; 
But  unto  you  I  shall  allow 
the  easiest  room  in  Hell." 

Would  not  this  cause  anguish  to  the  heart  of  any 
mother?  Indeed,  we  shall  never  know  what  intense 


14  Woman's  Ltfe  in  Colonial  Days 

anxiety  the  Puritan  woman  may  have  suffered  during  the 
few  days  intervening  between  the  hour  of  the  birth  and 
the  date  of  the  baptism  of  her  infant.  It  is  not  sur 
prising,  therefore,  that  an  exceedingly  brief  period  was 
allowed  to  elapse  before  the  babe  was  taken  from  its 
mother's  arms  and  carried  through  snow  and  wind  to  the 
desolate  church.  Judge  Sewall,  whose  Diary  covers 
most  of  the  years  from  1686  to  1725,  and  who  records 
every  petty  incident  from  the  cutting  of  his  finger  to  the 
blowing  off  of  the  Governor's  hat,  has  left  us  these  notes 
on  the  baptism  of  some  of  his  fourteen  children: 

"April  8,  1677.  Elizabeth  Weeden,  the  Midwife, 
brought  the  infant  to  the  third  Church  when  Sermon 
was  about  half  done  in  the  afternoon  ...  I  named  him 
John."  (Five  days  after  birth.)3  "  Sabbath-day,  De 
cember  13th  1685.  Mr.  Willard  baptizeth  my  Son  lately 
born,  whom  I  named  Henry."  (Four  days  after  birth.)4 
"  February  6,  1686-7.  Between  3  and  4  P.  M.  Mr. 
Willard  baptizeth  my  Son,  whom  I  named  Stephen." 
(Five  days  after  birth.)5 

Little  wonder  that  infant  mortality  was  exceedingly 
high,  especially  when  the  baptismal  service  took  place 
on  a  day  as  cold  as  this  one  mentioned  by  Sewall: 
"  Sabbath,  Janr.  24  ...  This  day  so  cold  that  the 
Sacramental  Bread  is  frozen  pretty  hard,  and  rattles 
sadly  as  broken  into  the  Plates."6  We  may  take  it  for 
granted  that  the  water  in  the  font  was  rapidly  freezing, 
if  not  entirely  frozen,  and  doubtless  the  babe,  shrinking 
under  the  icy  touch,  felt  inclined  to  give  up  the  struggle 

•  Sewall's  Diary,  Vol.  I,  p.  40. 
« Ibid,  Vol.  I,  p.  111. 
•Ibid,  Vol.  I,  p.  167. 
«  Diary,  Vol.  I.  p.  116. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Religion  15 

for  existence,  and  decline  a  further  reception  into  so  cold 
and  forbidding  a  world.  Once  more  hear  a  description 
by  the  kindly,  but  abnormally  orthodox  old  Judge: 
"  Lord's  Day,  Jany  15,  1715-16.  An  extraordinary 
Cold  Storm  of  Wind  and  Snow.  .  .  .  Bread  was  frozen 
at  the  Lord's  Table:  Though  'twas  so  Cold,  yet  John 
Tuckerman  was  baptised.  At  six  a-clock  my  ink  freezes 
so  that  I  can  hardly  write  by  a  good  fire  in  my  Wive's 
Chamber.  Yet  was  very  Comfortable  at  Meeting. 
Laus  Deo."7 

But  let  us  pass  to  other  phases  of  this  theology  under 
which  the  Puritan  woman  lived.  The  God  pictured 
in  the  Day  of  Doom  not  only  was  of  a  cruel  and  angry 
nature  but  was  arbitrary  beyond  modern  belief.  His 
wrath  fell  according  to  his  caprice  upon  sinner  or  saint. 
We  are  tempted  to  inquire  as  to  the  strange  mental 
process  that  could  have  led  any  human  being  to  believe 
in  such  a  Creator.  Regardless  of  doctrine,  creed,  or 
theology,  we  cannot  totally  dissociate  our  earthly  mental 
condition  from  that  in  the  future  state ;  we  cannot  refuse 
to  believe  that  we  shall  have  the  same  intelligent  mind, 
and  the  same  ability  to  understand,  perceive,  and  love. 
Apparently,  however,  the  Puritan  found  no  difficulty 
in  believing  that  the  future  existence  entailed  an  entire 
change  in  the  principles  of  love  and  in  the  emotions  of 
sympathy  and  pity. 

"  He  that  was  erst  a  husband  pierc'd 

with  sense  of  wife's  distress, 
Whose  tender  heart  did  bear  a  part 
of  all  her  grievances. 

'  Diary,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  71. 


16  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

Shall  mourn  no  more  as  heretofore, 

because  of  her  ill  plight, 
Although  he  see  her  now  to  be 

a  damn'd  forsaken  wight. 

"  The  tender  mother  will  own  no  other 

of  all  her  num'rous  brood 
But  such  as  stand  at  Christ's  right  hand, 

acquitted  through  his  Blood. 
The  pious  father  had  now  much  rather 

his  graceless  son  should  lie 
In  hell  with  devils,  for  all  his  evils, 
burning  eternally." 

(Day  of  Doom.) 

But  we  do  not  have  to  trust  to  Michael  Wiggles- 
worth's  poem  alone  for  a  realistic  conception  of  the  God 
and  the  religion  of  the  Puritans.  It  is  in  the  sermons  of 
the  day  that  we  discover  a  still  more  unbending,  harsh, 
and  hideous  view  of  the  Creator  and  his  characteristics. 
In  the  thunderings  of  Cotton  Mather  and  Jonathan 
Edwards,  we,  like  the  colonial  women  who  sat  so  meekly 
in  the  high,  hard  benches,  may  fairly  smell  the  brim 
stone  of  the  Nether  World.  Why,  exclaims  Jonathan 
Edwards  in  his  sermon,  The  Eternity  of  Hell  Torments: 

"  Do  but  consider  what  it  is  to  suffer  extreme  torment 
forever  and  ever;  to  suffer  it  day  and  night,  from  one 
day  to  another,  from  one  year  to  another,  from  one  age 
to  another,  from  one  thousand  ages  to  another,  and  so, 
adding  age  to  age,  and  thousands  to  thousands,  in  pain, 
in  wailing  and  lamenting,  groaning  and  shrieking,  and 
gnashing  your  teeth;  with  your  souls  full  of  dreadful 
grief  and  amazement,  with  your  bodies  and  every  mem 
ber  full  of  racking  torture,  without  any  possibility  of 


Colonial  Woman  and  Religion  17 

getting  ease;  without  any  possibility  of  moving  God  to 
pity  by  your  cries;  without  any  possibility  of  hiding 
yourselves  from  him  .  .  .  How  dismal  will  it  be,  when 
you  are  under  these  racking  torments,  to  know  assuredly 
that  you  never,  never  shall  be  delivered  from  them; 
to  have  no  hope;  when  you  shall  wish  that  you  might  but 
be  turned  into  nothing,  but  shall  have  no  hope  of  it; 
when  you  shall  wish  that  you  might  be  turned  into  a 
toad  or  a  serpent,  but  shall  have  no  hope  of  it;  when 
you  would  rejoice,  if  you  might  but  have  any  relief, 
after  you  shall  have  endured  these  torments  millions  of 
ages,  but  shall  have  no  hope  of  it;  when  after  you  shall 
have  worn  out  the  age  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  in 
your  dolorous  groans  and  lamentations,  without  any 
rest  day  or  night,  when  after  you  shall  have  worn  out  a 
thousand  more  such  ages,  yet  you  shall  have  no  hope, 
but  shall  know  that  you  are  not  one  whit  nearer  to  the 
end  of  your  torments;  but  that  still  there  are  the  same 
groans,  the  same  shrieks,  the  same  doleful  cries,  inces 
santly  to  be  made  by  you,  and  that  the  smoke  of  your 
torment  shall  still  ascend  up,  forever  and  ever;  and  that 
your  souls,  which  shall  have  been  agitated  with  the 
wrath  of  God  all  this  while,  yet  will  still  exist  to  bear 
more  wrath;  your  bodies,  which  shall  have  been  burning 
and  roasting  all  this  while  in  these  glowing  flames,  yet 
shall  not  have  been  consumed,  but  will  remain  to  roast 
through  an  eternity  yet,  which  will  not  have  been  at  all 
shortened  by  what  shall  have  been  past/' 

When  we  remember  that  to  the  Puritan  man,  woman, 
or  child  the  message  of  the  preacher  meant  the  message 
of  God,  we  may  imagine  what  effect  such  words  had  on  a 
colonial  congregation.  To  the  overwrought  nerves  of 


18  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

many  a  Puritan  woman,  taught  to  believe  meekly  the 
doctrines  of  her  father,  and  weakened  in  body  by  cease 
less  childbearing  and  unending  toil,  such  a  picture  must 
indeed  have  been  terrifying.  And  the  God  that  she  and 
her  husband  heard  described  Sabbath  after  Sabbath 
was  not  only  heartily  willing  to  condemn  man  to  eternal 
torment  but  capable  of  enjoying  the  tortures  of  the 
damned,  and  gloating  in  strange  joy  over  the  writhings 
of  the  condemned.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  in  the  midst 
of  Jonathan  Edward's  sermon,  Sinners  in  the  Hands  of 
an  Angry  God,  men  and  women  sprang  to  their  feet  and 
shrieked  in  anguish,  "  What  shall  we  do  to  be  saved?  " 
"  The  God  that  holds  you  over  the  pit  of  hell,  much  as 
one  holds  a  spider,  or  some  loathsome  insect,  over  the 
fire,  abhors  you  and  is  dreadfully  provoked;  his  wrath 
towards  you  burns  like  fire;  he  looks  upon  you  as 
worthy  of  nothing  else  but  to  be  cast  into  the  fire;  he  is 
of  purer  eyes  than  to  bear  to  have  you  in  his  sight;  you 
are  ten  thousand  times  as  abominable  in  his  eyes,  as  the 
most  hateful  and  venomous  serpent  is  in  ours.  You 
have  offended  him  infinitely  more  than  ever  a  stubborn 
rebel  did  his  prince ;  and  yet  it  is  nothing  but  his  hand 
that  holds  you  from  falling  into  the  fire  every  moment; 
it  is  ascribed  to  nothing  else  that  you  did  not  go  to  hell 
the  last  night;  that  you  was  suffered  to  awake  again  in 
this  world,  after  you  closed  your  eyes  to  sleep;  and 
there  is  no  other  reason  to  be  given  why  you  have  not 
dropped  into  hell  since  you  arose  in  the  morning,  but 
that  God's  hand  has  held  you  up;  there  is  no  other 
reason  to  be  given  why  you  have  not  gone  to  hell,  since 
you  have  sat  here  in  the  house  of  God,  provoking  his 
pure  eyes  by  your  sinful  wicked  manner  of  attending  his 


Colonial   Woman  and  Religion  19 

solemn  worship:  yea,  there  is  nothing  else  that  is  to  be 
given  as  a  reason  why  you  do  not  this  very  moment  drop 
down  into  hell." 

Under  such  teachings  the  girl  of  colonial  New  England 
grew  into  womanhood;  with  such  thoughts  in  mind  she 
saw  her  children  go  down  into  the  grave ;  with  such  fore 
bodings  she  herself  passed  out  into  an  uncertain  Here 
after.  Nor  was  there  any  escape  from  such  sermons; 
for  church  attendance  was  for  many  years  compulsory, 
and  even  when  not  compulsory,  was  essential  for  those 
who  did  not  wish  to  be  politically  and  socially  ostra 
cized.  The  preachers  were  not,  of  course,  required  to 
give  proof  for  their  declarations;  they  might  well  have 
announced,  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord  ";  but  they  preferred 
to  enter  into  disquisitions  bristling  with  arguments  and 
so-called  logical  deductions.  For  instance,  note  in 
Edwards'  sermon,  Why  Saints  in  Glory  will  Rejoice  to 
see  the  Torments  of  the  Damned,  the  chain  of  reasoning 
leading  to  the  conclusion  that  those  enthroned  in  heaven 
shall  find  joy  in  the  unending  torture  of  their  less  fortu 
nate  neighbors: 

"  They  will  rejoice  in  seeing  the  justice  of  God  glorified 
in  the  sufferings  of  the  damned.  The  misery  of  the 
damned,  dreadful  as  it  is,  is  but  what  justice  requires. 
They  in  heaven  will  see  and  know  it  much  more  clearly 
than  any  of  us  do  here.  They  will  see  how  perfectly 
just  and  righteous  their  punishment  is  and  therefore 
how  properly  inflicted  by  the  supreme  Governor  of  the 
world.  .  .  .  They  will  rejoice  when  they  see  him  who  is 
their  Father  and  eternal  portion  so  glorious  in  his  justice. 
The  sight  of  this  strict  and  immutable  justice  of  God  will 
render  him  amiable  and  adorable  in  their  eyes.  It  will 


20  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

occasion  rejoicing  in  them,  as  they  will  have  the  greater 
sense  of  their  own  happiness,  by  seeing  the  contrary 
misery.  It  is  the  nature  of  pleasure  and  pain,  of  happi 
ness  and  misery,  greatly  to  heighten  the  sense  of  each 
other.  .  .  .  When  they  shall  see  how  miserable  others 
of  their  fellow-creatures  are,  who  were  naturally  in  the 
same  circumstances  with  themselves;  when  they  shall 
see  the  smoke  of  their  torment,  and  the  raging  of  the 
flames  of  their  burning,  and  hear  their  dolorous  shrieks 
and  cries,  and  consider  that  they  in  the  meantime  are  in 
the  most  blissful  state,  and  shall  surely  be  in  it  to  all 
eternity;  how  will  they  rejoice!  .  .  .  When  they  shall 
see  the  dreadful  miseries  of  the  damned,  and  consider 
that  they  deserved  the  same  misery,  and  that  it  was 
sovereign  grace,  and  nothing  else,  which  made  them  so 
much  to  differ  from  the  damned,  that  if  it  had  not  been 
for  that,  they  would  have  been  in  the  same  condition; 
but  that  God  from  all  eternity  was  pleased  to  set  his  love 
upon  them,  that  Christ  hath  laid  down  his  life  for  them, 
and  hath  made  them  thus  gloriously  happy  forever,  O 
how  will  they  adore  that  dying  love  of  Christ,  which  has 
redeemed  them  from  so  great  a  misery,  and  purchased 
for  them  so  great  happiness,  and  has  so  distinguished 
them  from  others  of  their  fellow-creatures!  " 

It  was  a  strange  creed  that  led  men  to  teach  such 
theories.  And  when  we  learn  that  Jonathan  Edwards 
was  a  man  of  singular  gentleness  and  kind-heartedness, 
we  realize  that  it  must  have  tortured  him  to  preach 
such  doctrines,  but  that  he  believed  it  his  sacred  duty  to 
do  so. 

The  religion,  however,  that  the  Puritan  woman 
imbibed  from  girlhood  to  old  age  went  further  than  this; 


Colonial  Woman  and  Religion  21 

it  taught  the  theory  of  a  personal  devil.  To  the  New 
England  colonists  Satan  was  a  very  real  individual 
capable  of  taking  to  himself  a  physical  form  with  the 
proverbial  tail,  horns,  and  hoofs.  Hear  what  Cotton 
Mather,  one  of  the  most  eminent  divines  of  early  Massa 
chusetts,  has  to  say  in  his  Memorable  Providences  about 
this  highly  personal  Satan:  "  There  is  both  a  God  and 
a  Devil,  and  Witchcraft:  That  there  is  no  out-ward 
Affliction,  but  what  God  may  (and  sometimes  doth) 
permit  Satan  to  trouble  his  people  withal:  That  the 
Malice  of  Satan  and  his  Instruments,  is  very  great 
against  the  Children  of  God:  That  the  clearest  Gospel- 
Light  shining  in  a  place,  will  not  keep  some  from  entering 
hellish  Contracts  with  infernal  Spirits:  That  Prayer  is 
a  powerful  and  effectual  Remedy  against  the  ma 
licious  practises  of  Devils  and  those  in  Covenant  with 
them."8 

And  His  Satanic  Majesty  had  legions  of  followers, 
equally  insistent  on  tormenting  humanity.  In  The 
Wonders  of  the  Invisible  World,  published  in  1692, 
Mather  proves  that  there  is  a  devil  and  that  the  being 
has  specific  attributes,  powers,  and  limitations: 

"  A  devil  is  a  fallen  angel,  an  angel  fallen  from  the 
fear  and  love  of  God,  and  from  all  celestial  glories;  but 
fallen  to  all  manner  of  wretchedness  and  cursedness.  .  .  . 
There  are  multitudes,  multitudes,  in  the  valley  of 
destruction,  where  the  devils  are!  When  we  speak  of 
the  devil,  'tis  a  name  of  multitude.  .  .  .  The  devils 
they  swarm  about  us,  like  the  frogs  of  Egypt,  in  the  most 
retired  of  our  chambers.  Are  we  at  our  boards?  beds? 

8  Original  Narratives  of  Early  Am.  Hist.,  Narratives  of  the  Witchcraft  Cases, 
p.  96. 97. 


22  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

There  will  be  devils  to  tempt  us  into  carnality.  Are  we 
in  our  shops?  There  will  be  devils  to  tempt  us  into  dis 
honesty.  Yea,  though  we  get  into  the  church  of  God, 
there  will  be  devils  to  haunt  us  in  the  very  temple  itself, 
and  there  tempt  us  to  manifold  misbehaviors.  I  am 
verily  persuaded  that  there  are  very  few  human  affairs 
whereinto  some  devils  are  not  insinuated.  There  is 
not  so  much  as  a  journey  intended,  but  Satan  will  have 
an  hand  in  hindering  or  furthering  of  it. 

"  .  .  .  'Tis  to  be  supposed,  that  there  is  a  sort  of 
arbitrary,  even  military  government,  among  the  devils. 
.  .  .  These  devils  have  a  prince  over  them,  who  is  king 
over  the  children  of  pride.  'Tis  probable  that  the  devil, 
who  was  the  ringleader  of  that  mutinous  and  rebellious 
crew  which  first  shook  off  the  authority  of  God,  is  now 
the  general  of  those  hellish  armies;  our  Lord  that 
conquered  him  has  told  us  the  name  of  him;  'tis  Belze- 
bub;  'tis  he  that  is  the  devil  and  the  rest  are  his  angels, 
or  his  soldiers.  .  .  .  'Tis  to  be  supposed  that  some  devils 
are  more  peculiarly  commission'd,  and  perhaps  qualify'd, 
for  some  countries,  while  others  are  for  others.  ...  It 
is  not  likely  that  every  devil  does  know  every  language; 
or  that  every  devil  can  do  every  mischief.  'Tis  possible 
that  the  experience,  or,  if  I  may  call  it  so,  the  education 
of  all  devils  is  not  alike,  and  that  there  may  be  some 
difference  in  their  abilities.  .  .  ." 

What  was  naturally  the  effect  of  such  a  faith  upon  the 
sensitive  nerves  of  the  women  of  those  days?  Viewed 
in  its  larger  aspects  this  was  an  objective,  not  a  sub 
jective  religion.  It  could  but  make  the  sensitive  soul 
super-sensitive,  introspective,  morbidly  alive  to  uncanny 
and  weird  suggestions,  and  strangely  afraid  of  the 


Colonial   Woman  and  Religion  23 

temptation  of  enjoying  earthly  pleasures.  Its  followers 
dared  not  allow  themselves  to  become  deeply  attached 
to  anything  temporal;  for  such  an  emotion  was  the 
device  of  the  devil,  and  God  would  surely  remove  the 
object  of  such  affection.  Whether  through  anger  or 
jealousy  or  kindness,  the  Creator  did  this,  the  Puritan 
woman  seems  not  to  have  stopped  to  consider;  her 
belief  was  sufficient  that  earthly  desires  and  even  natural 
love  must  be  repressed.  Winthrop,  a  staunch  sup 
porter  of  colonial  New  England  creeds  as  well  as  of 
independence,  gives  us  an  example  of  God's  actions  in 
such  a  matter:  "  A  godly  woman  of  the  church  of  Bos 
ton,  dwelling  sometime  in  London,  brought  with  her 
a  parcel  of  very  fine  linen  of  great  value,  which  she  set 
her  heart  too  much  upon,  and  had  been  at  charge  to 
have  it  all  newly  washed,  and  curiously  folded  and 
pressed,  and  so  left  it  in  press  in  her  parlor  over  night." 
Through  the  carelessness  of  a  servant,  the  package 
caught  on  fire  and  was  totally  destroyed.  "  But  it 
pleased  God  that  the  loss  of  this  linen  did  her  much  good, 
both  in  taking  off  her  heart  from  worldly  comforts,  and 
in  preparing  her  for  a  far  greater  affliction  by  the  untimely 
death  of  her  husband.  .  .  ."9 

Especially  did  this  doctrine  apply  to  the  love  of  human 
beings.  How  often  must  it  have  grieved  the  Puritan 
mother  to  realize  that  she  must  exercise  unceasing  care 
lest  she  love  her  children  too  intensely!  For  the  pas 
sionate  love  of  a  mother  for  her  babe  was  but  a  rash 
temptation  to  an  ever-watchful  and  ever-jealous  God  to 
snatch  the  little  one  away.  Preachers  declared  it  in 
the  pulpit,  and  writers  emphasized  it  in  their  books; 

•Winthrop:   Hist,  of  N.  E.,  Vol.  II,  p.  36. 


24  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

the  trusting  and  faithful  woman  dared  not  believe 
otherwise.  Once  more  we  may  turn  to  Winthrop  for 
proof  of  this  terrifying  doctrine: 

"  God  will  be  sanctified  in  them  that  come  near  him. 
Two  others  were  the  children  of  one  of  the  Church  of 
Boston.  While  their  parents  were  at  the  lecture,  the 
boy  (being  about  seven  years  of  age),  having  a  small 
staff  in  his  hand,  ran  down  upon  the  ice  towards  a  boat 
he  saw,  and  the  ice  breaking,  he  fell  in,  but  his  staff 
kept  him  up,  till  his  sister,  about  fourteen  years  old,  ran 
down  to  save  her  brother  (though  there  were  four  men 
at  hand,  and  called  to  her  not  to  go,  being  themselves 
hasting  to  save  him)  and  so  drowned  herself  and  him 
also,  being  past  recovery  ere  the  men  could  come  at 
them,  and  could  easily  reach  ground  with  their  feet. 
The  parents  had  no  more  sons,  and  confessed  they  had 
been  too  indulgent  towards  him,  and  had  set  their 
hearts  overmuch  upon  him."10 

And  again,  what  mother  could  be  certain  that  punish 
ment  for  her  own  petty  errors  might  not  be  wreaked 
upon  her  innocent  child?  For  the  faith  of  the  day  did 
not  demand  that  the  sinner  receive  upon  himself  the 
recompense  for  his  deeds ;  the  mighty  Ruler  above  could 
and  would  arbitrarily  choose  as  the  victim  the  offspring 
of  an  erring  parent.  Says  Winthrop  in  the  History  of 
New  England,  mentioned  above: 

"  This  puts  me  in  mind  of  another  child  very  strangely 
drowned  a  little  before  winter.  The  parents  were  also 
members  of  the  church  of  Boston.  The  father  had 
undertaken  to  maintain  the  mill-dam,  and  being  at 
work  upon  it  (with  some  help  he  had  hired),  in  the  after- 

«  Winthrop:   Hist,  of  N.  Eng.,  Vol.  II,  p.  411. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Religion  25 

noon  of  the  last  day  of  the  week,  night  came  upon  them 
before  they  had  finished  what  they  intended,  and  his 
conscience  began  to  put  him  in  mind  of  the  Lord's  day, 
and  he  was  troubled,  yet  went  on  and  wrought  an  hour 
within  night.  The  next  day,  after  evening  exercise, 
and  after  they  had  supped,  the  mother  put  two  children 
to  bed  in  the  room  where  themselves  did  lie,  and  they 
went  out  to  visit  a  neighbor.  When  they  returned, 
they  continued  about  an  hour  in  the  room,  and  missed 
not  the  child,  but  then  the  mother  going  to  the  bed,  and 
not  finding  her  youngest  child  (a  daughter  about  five 
years  of  age),  after  much  search  she  found  it  drowned 
in  a  well  in  her  cellar;  which  was  very  observable,  as  by 
a  special  hand  of  God,  that  the  child  should  go  out  of 
that  room  into  another  in  the  dark,  and  then  fall  down 
at  a  trap-door,  or  go  down  the  stairs,  and  so  into  the  well 
in  the  farther  end  of  the  cellar,  the  top  of  the  well  and 
the  water  being  even  with  the  ground.  But  the  father, 
freely  in  the  open  congregation,  did  acknowledge  it  the 
righteous  hand  of  God  for  his  profaning  his  holy  day 
against  the  checks  of  his  own  conscience." 

There  was  a  certain  amount  of  pitiable  egotism  in  all 
this.  Seemingly  God  had  very  little  to  do  except  watch 
the  Puritans.  It  reminds  one  of  the  two  resolutions 
tradition  says  that  some  Puritan  leader  suggested: 
Resolved,  firstly,  that  the  saints  shall  inherit  the  earth; 
resolved,  secondly,  that  we  are  the  saints.  A  super 
natural  or  divine  explanation  seems  to  have  been  sought 
for  all  events ;  natural  causes  were  too  frequently  ignored . 
The  super-sensitive  almost  morbid  nature  resulting 
from  such  an  attitude  caused  far-fetched  hypotheses; 
God  was  in  every  incident  and  every  act  or  accident. 


26  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

We  may  turn  again  to  Winthrop's  History  for  an  illus 
tration  : 

"  1648.  The  synod  met  at  Cambridge.  Mr.  Allen 
preached.  It  fell  out,  about  the  midst  of  his  sermon, 
there  came  a  snake  into  the  seat  where  many  elders  sate 
behind  the  preacher.  Divers  elders  shifted  from  it, 
but  Mr.  Thomson,  one  of  the  elders  of  Braintree,  (a  man 
of  much  faith)  trod  upon  the  head  of  it,  until  it  was 
killed.  This  being  so  remarkable,  and  nothing  falling 
out  but  by  divine  providence,  it  is  out  of  doubt,  the 
Lord  discovered  somewhat  of  his  mind  in  it.  The 
serpent  is  the  devil;  the  synod,  the  representative  of 
the  churches  of  Christ  in  New  England.  The  devil 
had  formerly  and  lately  attempted  their  disturbance 
and  dissolution ;  but  their  faith  in  the  seed  of  the  woman 
overcame  him  and  crushed  his  head." 

There  was  a  further  belief  that  God  in  hasty  anger 
often  wreaked  instant  vengeance  upon  those  who  dis 
pleased  Him,  and  this  doctrine  doubtless  kept  many  a 
Puritan  in  constant  dread  lest  the  hour  of  retribution 
should  come  upon  him  without  warning.  How  often 
the  mother  of  those  days  must  have  admonished  in  all 
sincerity  her  child  not  to  do  this  or  that  lest  God  strike 
the  sudden  blow  of  death  in  retribution.  Numerous 
indeed  are  the  examples  presented  of  sinners  who  paid 
thus  abruptly  the  penalty  for  transgression.  Let 
Increase  Mather  speak  through  his  Essay  for  the  Record 
ing  of  Illustrious  Providences: 

"  The  hand  of  God  was  very  remarkable  in  that  which 
came  to  pass  in  the  Narragansett  country  in  New  Eng 
land,  not  many  weeks  since;  for  I  have  good  information, 
that  on  August  28,  1683,  a  man  there  (viz.  Samuel 


Colonial   Woman  and  Religion  27 

Wilson)  having  caused  his  dog  to  mischief  his  neighbor's 
cattle  was  blamed  for  his  so  doing.  He  denied  the  fact 
with  imprecations,  wishing  that  he  might  never  stir 
from  that  place  if  he  had  so  done.  His  neighbor  being 
troubled  at  his  denying  the  truth,  reproved  him,  and 
told  him  he  did  very  ill  to  deny  what  his  conscience 
knew  to  be  truth.  The  atheist  thereupon  used  the 
name  of  God  in  his  imprecations,  saying,  '  He  wished  to 
God  he  might  never  stir  out  of  that  place,  if  he  had  done 
that  which  he  was  charged  with.'  The  words  were 
scarce  out  of  his  mouth  before  he  sunk  down  dead,  and 
never  stirred  more;  a  son-in-law  of  his  standing  by  and 
catching  him  as  he  fell  to  the  ground." 

And  if  further  proof  of  the  swiftness  with  which  God 
may  act  is  desired,  Increase  Mather's  Illustrious  Provi 
dences  may  again  be  cited:  "A  thing  not  unlike  this 
happened  (though  not  in  New  England  yet)  in  America, 
about  a  year  ago;  for  in  September,  1682,  a  man  at  the 
Isle  of  Providence,  belonging  to  a  vessel,  whereof  one 
Wollery  was  master,  being  charged  with  some  deceit  in 
a  matter  that  had  been  committed  to  him,  in  order  to  his 
own  vindication,  horridly  wished  '  that  the  devil  might 
put  out  his  eyes  if  he  had  done  as  was  suspected  concern 
ing  him.'  That  very  night  a  rheum  fell  into  his  eyes  so 
that  within  a  few  days  he  became  stark  blind.  His 
company  being  astonished  at  the  Divine  hand  which 
thus  conspicuously  and  signally  appeared,  put  him  ashore 
at  Providence,  and  left  him  there.  A  physician  being 
desired  to  undertake  his  cure,  hearing  how  he  came  to 
lose  his  sight,  refused  to  meddle  with  him.  This  account 
I  lately  received  from  credible  persons,  who  knew  and 
have  often  seen  the  man  whom  the  devil  (according  to 


28  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

his  own  wicked  wish)  made  blind,  through  the  dreadful 
and  righteous  judgment  of  God." 

III.     Inherited  Nervousness 

In  all  ages  it  would  seem  that  woman  has  more  readily 
accepted  the  teachings  of  her  elders  and  has  taken  to 
heart  more  earnestly  the  doctrines  of  new  religions, 
however  strange  or  novel,  than  has  man.  It  was  so  in 
the  days  of  Christ;  it  is  true  in  our  own  era  of  Christian 
Science,  Theosophy,  and  New  Thought.  The  mes 
sage  that  fell  from  the  lips  of  the  fanatically  zealous 
preachers  of  colonial  times  sank  deep  into  the  hearts  of 
New  England  women.  Its  impression  was  sharp  and 
abiding,  and  the  sensitive  mother  transmitted  her  fears 
and  dread  to  her  child.  Timid  girls,  inheriting  a  super- 
conscious  realization  of  human  defects,  and  hearing  from 
babyhood  the  terrifying  doctrines,  grew  also  into  a 
womanhood  noticeable  for  over-wrought  nerves  and 
depressed  spirits.  Timid,  shrinking  Betty  Sewall, 
daughter  of  Judge  Sewall,  was  troubled  all  the  days  of 
her  life  with  qualms  about  the  state  of  her  soul,  was 
hysterical  as  a  child,  wretched  in  her  mature  years,  and 
depressed  in  soul  at  the  hour  of  her  departure.  In  his 
famous  diary  her  father  makes  this  note  about  her 
when  she  was  about  five  years  of  age:  "  It  falls  to  my 
daughter  Elizabeth's  Share  to  read  the  24  of  Isaiah 
which  she  doth  with  many  Tears  not  being  very  well, 
and  the  Contents  of  the  Chapter  and  Sympathy  with  her 
draw  Tears  from  me  also." 

A  writer  of  our  own  day,  Alice  Morse  Earle,  has  well 
expressed  our  opinion  when  she  says  in  her  Child  Life 
in  Colonial  Days:  "  The  terrible  verses  telling  of  God's 


Colonial  Woman  and  Religion  29 

judgment  on  the  land,  of  fear  of  the  pit,  of  the  snare,  of 
emptiness  and  waste,  of  destruction  and  desolation, 
must  have  sunk  deep  into  the  heart  of  the  sick  child, 
and  produced  the  condition  shown  by  this  entry  when 
she  was  a  few  years  older:  '  When  I  came  in,  past  7  at 
night,  my  wife  met  me  in  the  Entry  and  told  me  Betty 
had  surprised  them.  I  was  surprised  with  the  Abrupt 
ness  of  the  Relation.  It  seems  Betty  Sewall  had  given 
some  signs  of  dejection  and  sorrow;  but  a  little  while 
after  dinner  she  burst  into  an  amazing  cry  which  caus'd 
all  the  family  to  cry  too.  Her  mother  ask'd  the  Reason, 
she  gave  none;  at  last  said  she  was  afraid  she  should  go 
to  Hell,  her  Sins  were  not  pardon'd.  She  was  first 
wounded  by  my  reading  a  Sermon  of  Mr.  Norton's; 
Text,  Ye  shall  seek  me  and  shall  not  find  me.  And 
these  words  in  the  Sermon,  Ye  shall  seek  me  and  die  in 
your  Sins,  ran  in  her  Mind  and  terrified  her  greatly. 
And  staying  at  home,  she  read  out  of  Mr.  Cotton  Mather 
—  Why  hath  Satan  filled  thy  Heart?  which  increas'd 
her  Fear.  Her  Mother  asked  her  whether  she  pray'd. 
She  answered  Yes,  but  fear'd  her  prayers  were  not  heard, 
because  her  sins  were  not  pardoned.'  "  ll 

We  may  well  imagine  the  anguish  of  Betty  Sewall's 
mother.  And  yet  neither  that  mother,  whose  life  had 
been  gloomy  enough  under  the  same  religion,  nor  the 
father  who  had  led  his  child  into  distress  by  holding 
before  her  her  sinful  condition,  could  offer  any  genuine 
comfort.  Miss  Earle  has  summarised  with  briefness 
and  force  the  results  of  such  training:  "  A  frightened 
child,  a  retiring  girl,  a  vacillating  sweetheart,  an  unwill 
ing  bride,  she  became  the  mother  of  eight  children;  but 

"  Child  Life  in  Colonial  Days,  p.  238. 


30  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

always  suffered  from  morbid  introspection,  and  over 
whelming  fear  of  death  and  the  future  life,  until  at  the 
age  of  thirty-five  her  father  sadly  wrote,  '  God  has 
delivered  her  now  from  all  her  fears.'  "  12 

According  to  our  modern  conception  of  what  child 
life  should  consist  of,  the  existence  of  the  Puritan  girl 
must  have  been  darkened  from  early  infancy  by  such  a 
creed.  Only  the  indomitable  desire  of  the  human  being 
to  survive,  and  the  capacity  of  the  human  spirit  under 
the  pressure  of  daily  duties  to  thrust  back  into  the  sub 
conscious  mind  its  dread  or  terror,  could  enable  man  or 
woman  to  withstand  the  physical  and  mental  strain 
of  the  theories  hurled  down  so  sternly  and  so  confidently 
from  the  colonial  pulpit.  Cotton  Mather  in  his  Diary 
records  this  incident  when  his  daughter  was  but  four 
years  old:  "  I  took  my  little  daughter  Katy  into  my 
Study  and  then  I  told  my  child  I  am  to  dye  Shortly  and 
shee  must,  when  I  am  Dead,  remember  Everything  I 
now  said  unto  her.  I  sett  before  her  the  sinful  Condi 
tion  of  her  Nature,  and  I  charged  her  to  pray  in  Secret 
Places  every  Day.  That  God  for  the  sake  of  Jesus 
Christ  would  give  her  a  New  Heart.  I  gave  her  to  under 
stand  that  when  I  am  taken  from  her  she  must  look  to 
meet  with  more  humbling  Afflictions  than  she  does  now 
she  has  a  Tender  Father  to  provide  for  her." 

Infinite  pity  we  may  well  have  for  those  stern  parents 
who,  faithful  to  what  they  considered  their  duty,  missed 
so  much  of  the  sanity,  sweetness  and  joy  of  life,  and 
thrust  upon  their  babes,  whose  days  should  have  been 
filled  with  love  and  light  and  play,  the  dread  of  death  and 
hell  and  eternal  damnation.  It  is  with  a  touch  of  irony 

»  Ibid. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Religion  31 

that  we  read  that  Mather  survived  by  thirty  years  this 
child  whose  infant  mind  was  tortured  with  visions  of  the 
grave.  Yet  a  strange  sort  of  pride  seems  to  have  been 
taken  in  the  capacity  of  children  to  imbibe  such  gloomy 
theological  theories  and  in  the  ability  to  repeat,  parrot- 
like,  the  oft-repeated  doctrines  of  inherent  sinfulness. 
One  babe,  two  years  old,  was  able  "  savingly  to  under 
stand  the  Mysteries  of  Redemption";  another  of  the 
same  age  was  "a  dear  lover  of  faithful  ministers"; 
Anne  Greenwich,  who,  we  are  not  surprised  to  discover, 
died  at  the  age  of  five,  "  discoursed  most  astonishingly 
of  great  mysteries  ";  Daniel  Bradley,  when  three  years 
old,  had  an  "  impression  and  inquisition  of  the  state  of 
souls  after  death  ";  Elizabeth  Butcher,  when  only  two 
and  a  half  years  old,  would  ask  herself  as  she  lay  in  her 
cradle,  "  What  is  my  corrupt  nature? "  and  would 
answer  herself  with  the  quotation,  "  It  is  empty  of  grace, 
bent  unto  sin,  and  only  to  sin,  and  that  continually." 
With  such  spiritual  food  were  our  ancestors  fed  —  some 
times  to  the  eternal  undoing  of  their  posterity's  physical 
and  mental  welfare. 

IV.     Woman's  Day  of  Rest 

It  is  possible  that  the  Puritan  woman  gained  one  very 
material  blessing  from  the  religion  of  her  day;  she  was 
relieved  of  practically  all  work  on  Sunday.  The  colonial 
Sabbath  was  indeed  strictly  observed;  there  was  little 
visiting,  no  picnicing,  no  heavy  meals,  no  week-end 
parties,  none  of  the  entertainments  so  prevalent  in  our 
own  day.  The  wife  and  mother  was  therefore  spared 
the  heavy  tasks  of  Sunday  so  commonly  expected  of  the 
typical  twentieth-century  housewife.  But  it  is  doubtful 


32  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

whether  the  alternative  —  attendance  at  church  almost 
the  entire  day  —  would  appear  one  whit  more  desirable 
to  the  modern  woman.  The  Sabbath  of  those  times 
was  verily  a  period  of  religious  worship.  No  one  must 
leave  town,  and  no  one  must  travel  to  town  save  for  the 
church  service.  There  must  be  no  work  on  the  farm  or 
in  the  city.  Boats  must  not  be  used  except  when 
necessary  to  transport  people  to  divine  service.  Fishing, 
hunting,  and  dancing  were  absolutely  forbidden.  No 
one  must  use  a  horse,  ox,  or  wagon  if  the  church  were 
within  reasonable  walking  distance,  and  "  reasonable  " 
was  a  most  expansive  word.  Tobacco  was  not  to  be 
smoked  or  chewed  near  any  meeting  house.  The  odor 
of  cooking  food  on  Sunday  was  an  abomination  in  the 
nostrils  of  the  Most  High.  And  we  should  bear  in 
mind  that  these  rules  were  enforced  from  sunset  on 
Saturday  to  sunset  on  Sunday  —  the  twenty-four  hours 
of  the  Puritan  Sabbath.  The  Holy  Day,  as  spent  by 
the  preacher,  John  Cotton,  may  be  taken  as  typical  of 
the  strenuous  hours  of  the  Sabbath  as  observed  by  many 
a  New  England  pastor: 

"  He  began  the  Sabbath  at  evening,  therefore  then 
performed  family  duty  after  supper,  being  longer  than 
ordinary  in  exposition.  After  which  he  catechized  his 
children  and  servants,  and  then  returned  to  his  study. 
The  morning  following,  family  worship  being  ended,  he 
retired  into  his  study  until  the  bell  called  him  away. 
Upon  his  return  from  meeting  (where  he  had  preached 
and  prayed  some  hours),  he  returned  again  into  his 
study  (the  place  of  his  labor  and  prayer),  unto  his  favorite 
devotion;  where  having  a  small  repast  carried  him  up 
for  his  dinner,  he  continued  until  the  tolling  of  the  bell. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Religion  33 

The  public  service  of  the  afternoon  being  over,  he  with 
drew  for  a  space  to  his  pre-mentioned  oratory  for  his 
sacred  addresses  to  God,  as  in  the  forenoon,  then  came 
down,  repeated  the  sermon  in  the  family,  prayed,  after 
supper  sang  a  Psalm,  and  toward  bedtime  betaking  him 
self  again  to  his  study  he  closed  the  day  with  prayer." 

To  many  a  modern  reader  such  a  method  of  spending 
Sunday  for  either  preacher  or  laymen  would  seem  not 
only  irksome  but  positively  detrimental  to  physical  and 
mental  health;  but  we  should  bear  in  mind  that  the 
opportunity  to  sit  still  and  listen  after  six  days  of  strenu 
ous  muscular  toil  was  probably  welcomed  by  the  colon 
ist,  and,  further,  that  in  the  absence  of  newspapers  and 
magazines  and  other  intellectual  stimuli  the  oratory  of 
the  clergy,  stern  as  it  may  have  been,  was  possibly  an 
equal  relief.  Especially  were  such  "  recreations  "  wel 
comed  by  the  women;  for  their  toil  was  as  arduous  as 
that  of  the  men;  while  their  round  of  life  and  their 
means  of  receiving  the  stimulus  of  public  movements 
were  even  more  restricted. 

V.  Religion  and  Woman1  s  Foibles 
The  repressive  characteristics  of  the  creed  of  the  hour 
were  felt  more  keenly  by  those  women  than  probably 
any  man  of  the  period  ever  dreamed.  For  woman 
seems  to  possess  an  innate  love  of  the  dainty  and  the 
beautiful,  and  beauty  was  the  work  of  Satan.  Nothing 
was  too  small  or  insignificant  for  this  religion  to  examine 
and  control.  It  even  regulated  that  most  difficult  of  all 
matters  to  govern  —  feminine  dress.  As  Fisher  says 
in  his  Men,  Women  and  Manners  in  Colonial  Times: 
11  At  every  opportunity  they  raised  some  question  of 


34  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

religion  and  discussed  it  threadbare,  and  the  more  fine 
spun  and  subtle  it  was  the  more  it  delighted  them. 
Governor  Winthrop's  Journal  is  full  of  such  questions  as 
whether  there  could  be  an  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
in  a  believer  without  a  personal  union;  whether  it  was 
lawful  even  to  associate  or  have  dealings  with  idolaters 
like  the  French;  whether  women  should  wear  veils. 
On  the  question  of  veils,  Roger  Williams  was  in  favor  of 
them;  but  John  Cotton  one  morning  argued  so  power 
fully  on  the  other  side  that  in  the  afternoon  the  women 
all  came  to  church  without  them. 

"  There  were  orders  of  the  General  Court  forbidding 
'  short  sleeves  whereby  the  nakedness  of  the  arms  may 
be  discovered/  Women's  sleeves  were  not  to  be  more 
than  half  an  ell  wide.  There  were  to  be  no  '  immoderate 
great  sleeves,  immoderate  .  .  .  knots  of  ryban,  broad 
shoulder  bands  and  rayles,  silk  ruses,  double  ruffles 
and  cuffs/  The  women  were  complained  of  because  of 
their  '  wearing  borders  of  hair  and  their  cutting,  curling, 
and  immodest  laying  out  of  their  hair.'  "  13 

Petty  details  that  would  not  receive  a  moment's 
consideration  in  our  own  day  aroused  the  theological 
scruples  of  those  colonial  pastors,  and  moved  them  to 
interminable  arguments  which  nicely  balanced  the  pros 
and  cons  as  warranted  by  scripture.  One  of  John  Cot 
ton's  most  famous  sermons  dealt  with  the  question  as  to 
whether  women  had  a  right  to  sing  in  church,  and  after 
lengthy  disquisition  the  preacher  finally  decided  that  the 
Lord  had  no  special  objection  to  women's  singing  the 
Psalms,  but  this  conclusion  was  reached  only  after  an 
unsparing  battle  of  doubts  and  logic.  "  Some,"  he 

"Pp.  137,  185. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Religion  35 

declares,  "  that  were  altogether  against  singing  of  Psalms 
at  all  with  a  lively  voice,  yet  being  convinced  that  it  is 
a  moral  worship  of  God  warranted  in  Scripture,  then  if 
there  must  be  a  Singing  one  alone  must  sing,  not  all 

(or  if  all)   the   Men  only  and  not  the  Women.  .  .  . 

Some  object,  '  Because  it  is  not  permitted  to  speak  in 
the  Church  in  two  cases:  1.  By  way  of  teaching.  .  .  . 
For  this  the  Apostle  accounteth  an  act  of  authority  which 
is  unlawful  for  a  woman  to  usurp  over  the  man,  II, 
Tim.  2,  13.  And  besides  the  woman  is  more  subject  to 
error  than  a  man,  ver.  14,  and  therefore  might  soon  prove 
a  seducer  if  she  became  a  teacher.  ...  It  is  not  per 
mitted  to  a  woman  to  speak  in  the  Church  by  way  of 
propounding  questions  though  under  pretence  of  desire 
to  learn  for  her  own  satisfaction;  but  rather  it  is  required 
she  should  ask  her  husband  at  home." 

Thus  we  might  follow  Cotton  through  many  a  page 
and  hear  his  ingenious  application  of  Biblical  verses, 
his  carefully  balanced  arguments,  his  earnest  considera 
tion  of  what  seems  to  the  modern  reader  a  most  trivial 
question.  To  him,  however,  and  probably  to  the  women 
also  it  was  a  weighty  subject,  more  important  by  far 
than  the  cause  of  the  high  mortality  among  both  mothers 
and  children  of  the  day  —  a  mortality  appallingly  high. 
It  would  seem  that  the  fevers,  sore  throats,  consumption, 
and  small  pox  that  destroyed  women  and  babes  in  vast 
numbers  might  have  claimed  some  attention  from  the 
hair-splitting  clergyman  and  his  congregation.  We 
must  not,  however,  judge  the  age  too  harshly.  It  is 
utterly  impossible  for  us  of  the  twentieth  century  to 
understand  entirely  the  view  point  of  the  Puritans; 
for  the  remarkable  era  of  the  nineteenth  century  inter- 


36  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

venes,  and  freedom  from  superstition  and  blind  faith 
is  a  gift  which  came  after  that  era  and  not  before. 

From  time  to  time  the  colonists  to  the  south  may  have 
sneered  at  or  even  condemned  the  severity  of  New 
England  life,  but  in  the  main  the  merchants  of  New 
York  and  the  planters  of  Virginia  and  Maryland  real 
ized  and  respected  the  moral  worth  and  earnest  nature 
of  the  Massachusetts  settlers.  For  example,  the  versa 
tile  Virginia  leader,  William  Byrd,  remarks  sarcastically 
in  his  History  of  the  Dividing  Line  Run  in  the  Year  1728: 
"  Nor  would  I  care,  like  a  certain  New  England  Magis 
trate  to  order  a  Man  to  the  Whipping  Post  for  daring  to 
ride  for  a  midwife  on  the  Lord's  Day  ";  but  in  the  same 
manuscript  he  pays  these  people  of  rigid  rules  the  follow 
ing  tribute:  "  Tho'  these  People  may  be  ridiculed  for 
some  Pharisaical  Particularitys  in  their  Worship  and 
Behaviour,  yet  they  were  very  useful  Subjects,  as  being 
Frugal  and  Industrious,  giving  no  Scandal  or  Bad 
Example,  at  least  by  any  Open  and  Public  Vices.  By 
which  excellent  Qualities  they  had  much  the  Advantage 
of  the  Southern  Colony,  who  thought  their  being  Mem 
bers  of  the  Establish't  Church  sufficient  to  Sanctifie  very 
loose  and  Profligate  Morals.  For  this  reason  New 
England  improved  much  faster  than  Virginia,  and  in 
Seven  or  Eight  Years  New  Plymouth,  like  Switzerland, 
seemd  too  narrow  a  Territory  for  its  Inhabitants."14 

Those  early  New  Englanders  may  have  been  frugal 
and  industrious,  giving  no  scandal  nor  bad  example; 
but  the  constant  repression,  the  monotony,  the  dreari 
ness  of  the  religion  often  wrought  havoc  with  the  sensi 
tive  nerves  of  the  women,  and  many  of  them  needed, 

"  Writings  of  Col.  Byrd,  Ed.  Bassett,  p.  25. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Religion  37 

far  more  than  prayers,  godly  counsel  and  church  trials, 
the  skilled  services  of  a  physician.  Two  incidents 
related  by  Winthrop  should  be  sufficient  to  impress  the 
pathos  or  the  downright  tragedy  of  the  situation: 

"  A  cooper's  wife  of  Hingham,  having  been  long  in  a  sad 
melancholic  distemper  near  to  phrensy,  and  having  for 
merly  attempted  to  drown  her  child,  but  prevented  by 
God's  gracious  providence,  did  now  again  take  an  oppor 
tunity.  .  .  .  And  threw  it  into  the  water  and  mud  .  .  . 
She  carried  the  child  again,  and  threw  it  in  so  far  as  it 
could  not  get  out;  but  then  it  pleased  God,  that  a  young 
man,  coming  that  way,  saved  it.  She  would  give  no  other 
reason  for  it,  but  that  she  did  it  to  save  it  from  misery, 
and  with  that  she  was  assured,  she  had  sinned  against 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  that  she  could  not  repent  of  any 
sin.  Thus  doth  Satan  work  by  the  advantage  of  our 
infirmities,  which  would  stir  us  up  to  cleave  the  more 
fast  to  Christ  Jesus,  and  to  walk  the  more  humbly  and 
watchfully  in  all  our  conversation." 

"  Dorothy  Talbye  was  hanged  at  Boston  for  murdering 
her  own  daughter  a  child  of  three  years  old.  She  had 
been  a  member  of  the  church  of  Salem,  and  of  good  esteem 
for  godliness,  but,  falling  at  difference  with  her  husband, 
through  melancholy  or  spiritual  delusions,  she  sometimes 
attempted  to  kill  him,  and  her  children,  and  herself, 
by  refusing  meat.  .  .  .  After  much  patience,  and  divers 
admonitions  not  prevailing,  the  church  cast  her  out. 
Whereupon  she  grew  worse ;  so  as  the  magistrate  caused 
her  to  be  whipped.  Whereupon  she  was  reformed  for  a 
time,  and  carried  herself  more  dutifully  to  her  husband, 
but  soon  after  she  was  so  possessed  with  Satan,  that  he 
persuaded  her  (by  his  delusions,  which  she  listened  to  as 


38  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

revelations  from  God)  to  break  the  neck  of  her  own  child, 
that  she  might  free  it  from  future  misery.  This  she 
confessed  upon  her  apprehension;  yet,  at  her  arraign 
ment,  she  stood  mute  a  good  space,  till  the  governour 
told  her  she  should  be  pressed  to  death,  and  then  she 
confessed  the  indictment.  When  she  was  to  receive 
judgment,  she  would  not  uncover  her  face,  nor  stand 
up,  but  as  she  was  forced,  nor  give  any  testimony  of  her 
repentance,  either  then  or  at  her  execution.  The  cloth 
which  should  have  covered  her  face,  she  plucked  off,  and 
put  between  the  rope  and  her  neck.  She  desired  to  have 
been  beheaded,  giving  this  reason,  that  it  was  less  painful 
and  less  shameful.  Mr.  Peter,  her  late  pastor,  and  Mr. 
Wilson,  went  with  her  to  the  place  of  execution,  but 
could  do  no  good  with  her."15 

VI.  Woman's  Comfort  in  Religion 
Little  gentleness  and  surely  little  of  the  overwhelming 
love  that  was  Christ's  are  apparent  in  a  creed  so  stern 
and  uncompromising.  But  the  age  in  which  it  flourished 
was  not  in  itself  a  gentle  and  tolerant  era.  It  had  not 
been  so  many  years  since  men  and  women  had  been 
tortured  and  executed  for  their  faith.  The  Spanish 
Inquisition  had  scarcely  ceased  its  labor  of  barbarism; 
and  days  were  to  follow  both  in  England  and  on  the 
continent  when  acts  almost  as  savage  would  be  allowed 
for  the  sake  of  religion.  In  spite,  moreover,  of  all  that 
has  been  said  above,  in  spite  of  the  literalness,  the  belief 
in  a  personal  devil,  the  fear  of  an  arbitrary  God,  the 
religion  of  Puritanism  was  not  without  comfort  to  the 
New  England  woman.  Many  are  the  references  to  the 

"  Winthrop:  History  of  New  England,  Vol.  II,  pp.  79,  335. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Religion  39 

Creator's  comforting  presence  and  help.  Note  these 
lines  from  a  letter  written  by  Margaret  Winthrop  to  her 
husband  in  1637:  "  Sure  I  am,  that  all  shall  work  to  the 
best  to  them  that  love  God,  or  rather  are  loved  of  him. 
I  know  he  will  bring  light  out  of  obscurity,  and  make  his 
righteousness  shine  forth  as  clear  as  noonday.  Yet  I 
find  in  myself  an  adverse  spirit,  and  a  trembling  heart, 
not  so  willing  to  submit  to  the  will  of  God  as  I  desire. 
There  is  a  time  to  plant,  and  a  time  to  pull  up  that  which 
is  planted,  which  I  could  desire  might  not  be  yet.  But 
the  Lord  knoweth  what  is  best,  and  his  will  be  done.  .  ." 
Though  woman  might  not  speak  or  hold  office  in  the 
Church,  yet  she  was  not  by  any  means  denied  the 
ordinary  privileges  and  comforts  of  religious  worship, 
but  rather  was  encouraged  to  gather  with  her  sisters  in 
informal  seasons  of  prayer  and  meditation.  The  good 
wives  are  commended  in  many  of  the  writings  of  the  day 
for  general  charity  work  connected  with  the  church, 
and  are  mentioned  frequently  as  being  present  at  the 
evening  assemblies  similar  to  our  modern  prayer  meet 
ings.  Cotton  Mather  makes  this  notation  in  his  Essays 
to  do  Good,  published  in  1710:  "  It  is  proposed,  That 
about  twelve  families  agree  to  meet  (the  men  and  their 
wives)  at  each  other's  houses,  in  rotation,  once  in  a  fort 
night  or  a  month,  as  shall  be  thought  most  proper,  and 
spend  a  suitable  time  together  in  religious  exercises." 
Even  when  women  ventured  to  hold  formal  religious 
meetings  there  was  at  first  little  or  no  protest.  Accord 
ing  to  Hutchinson's  History  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  when 
Anne  Hutchinson,  that  creator  of  religious  strife  and 
thorn  in  the  side  of  the  Elders,  conducted  assemblies 
for  women  only,  there  was  even  praise  for  the  innova- 


40  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

tion.  It  was  only  when  this  leader  criticised  the  clergy 
that  silence  was  demanded.  "  Mrs.  Hutchinson  thought 
fit  to  set  up  a  meeting  for  the  sisters,  also,  where  she 
repeated  the  sermons  preached  the  Lord's  day  before, 
adding  her  remarks  and  expositions.  Her  lectures  made 
much  noise,  and  fifty  or  eighty  principal  women  attended 
them.  At  first  they  were  generally  approved  of." 

Only  when  the  decency  and  the  decorum  of  the  colony 
were  threatened  did  the  stern  laws  of  the  church  descend 
upon  Mistress  Hutchinson  and  her  followers.  It  was 
doubtless  the  riotous  conduct  of  these  radicals  that 
caused  the  resolution  to  be  passed  by  the  assembly  in 
1637,  which  stated,  according  to  Winthrop:  "That 
though  women  might  meet  (some  few  together)  to  pray 
and  edify  one  another;  yet  such  a  set  assembly,  (as  was 
then  in  practice  at  Boston),  where  sixty  or  more  did  meet 
every  week,  and  one  woman  (in  a  prophetical  way, 
by  resolving  questions  of  doctrine,  and  expounding 
scripture)  took  upon  her  the  whole  exercise,  was  agreed 
to  be  disorderly,  and  without  rule." 

Among  the  Quakers  women's  meetings  were  common; 
for  equality  of  the  sexes  was  one  of  their  teachings. 
In  the  Journal  of  George  Fox  (1672)  we  come  across  this 
statement:  "  We  had  a  Mens-Meeting  and  a  Womens- 
Meeting.  .  .  .  On  the  First  of  these  Days  the  Men  and 
Women  had  their  Meetings  for  Business,  wherein  the 
Affairs  of  the  Church  of  God  were  taken  care  of." 
Moreover,  what  must  have  seemed  an  abomination  to 
the  Puritan  Fathers,  these  Quakers  allowed  their  wives 
and  mothers  to  serve  in  official  capacities  in  the  church, 
and  permitted  them  to  take  part  in  the  quarterly  busi 
ness  sessions.  Thus,  John  Woolman  in  his  Diary  says: 


Colonial  Woman  and  Religion  41 

"  We  attended  the  Quarterly  meeting  with  Ann  Gaunt 
and  Mercy  Redman."  "  After  the  quarterly  meeting  of 
worship  ended  I  felt  drawings  to  go  to  the  Women's 
meeting  of  business  which  was  very  full."  What  was 
especially  shocking  to  their  Puritan  neighbors  was  the 
fact  that  these  Quakers  allowed  their  women  to  go 
forth  as  missionary  speakers,  and,  as  in  the  case  of  Mary 
Dyer,  to  invade  the  sacred  precincts  of  the  Massachu 
setts  Bay  Colony  to  proselyte  to  Quakerism. 

VII.  Female  Rebellion 

But  those  Puritan  colonists  had  far  greater  troubles 
to  harass  them  than  the  few  quiet  Quaker  women  who 
were  moved  by  Inner  Light  to  speak  in  the  village 
streets.  One  of  these  troubles  we  have  touched  upon  — 
the  Rise  of  the  Antinomians,  or  the  disturbance  caused 
by  Anne  Hutchinson.  The  other  was  the  Salem  Witch 
craft  proceedings.  In  both  of  these  women  were  directly 
concerned,  and  indeed  were  at  the  root  of  the  disturb 
ances.  Let  us  examine  in  some  detail  the  influence 
of  Puritan  womanhood  in  these  social  upheavals  that 
shook  the  foundations  of  church  rule  in  New  England. 

While  most  of  the  women  of  the  Puritan  colonies 
seem  to  have  been  too  busy  with  their  household  duties 
and  their  numerous  children  to  concern  themselves 
extensively  with  public  affairs,  there  was  this  one 
woman,  Anne  Hutchinson,  who  has  gained  lasting  fame 
as  the  cause  of  the  greatest  religious  and  political  dis 
turbance  occurring  in  Massachusetts  before  the  days  of 
the  Revolution.  Many  are  the  references  in  the  early 
writers  to  this  radical  leader  and  her  followers.  Some 
of  the  most  prominent  men  and  women  in  the  colony 


42  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

were  inclined  to  follow  her,  and  for  a  time  it  appeared 
that  hers  was  to  be  the  real  power  of  the  day;  great  was 
the  excitement.  Thomas  Hutchinson  in  his  History  of 
Massachusetts  Bay  Colony,  tells  of  her  trial  and  banish 
ment:  "  Countenanced  and  encouraged  by  Mr.  Vane 
and  Mr.  Cotton,  she  advanced  doctrines  and  opinions 
which  involved  the  colony  in  disputes  and  contensions; 
and  being  improved  to  civil  as  well  as  religious  purposes, 
had  like  to  have  produced  ruin  both  to  church  and  state." 

Anne  Hutchinson  was  the  daughter  of  Francis  Mar- 
bury,  a  prominent  clergyman  of  Lincolnshire,  England. 
Intensely  religious  as  a  child,  she  was  deeply  influenced 
when  a  young  woman  by  the  preaching  of  John  Cotton. 
The  latter,  not  being  able  to  worship  as  he  wished  in 
England,  moved  to  the  Puritan  colony  in  the  New  World, 
and  Anne  Hutchinson,  upon  her  arrival  at  Boston, 
frankly  confessed  that  she  had  crossed  the  sea  solely  to 
be  under  his  preaching  in  his  new  home. 

Many  of  the  prominent  men  of  the  community  soon 
became  her  followers;  Sir  Harry  Vane,  Governor  of  the 
colony;  her  brother-in-law,  the  Rev.  John  Wheelwright; 
William  Coddington,  a  magistrate  of  Boston;  and  even 
Cotton  himself,  leader  of  the  church  and  supposedly 
orthodox  of  the  orthodox.  That  this  was  enough  to 
turn  the  head  of  any  woman  may  well  be  surmised, 
especially  when  we  remember  that  she  was  presumed  to 
be  the  silent  and  weaker  vessel,  —  to  find  suddenly 
learned  men  and  even  the  greatest  clergymen  of  the  com 
munity  sitting  at  her  feet  and  hearing  her  doctrines. 
It  is  difficult  to  determine  the  real  state  of  affairs  con 
cerning  this  woman  and  her  teachings.  Nothing,  unless 
possibly  the  witchcraft  delusion  at  Salem,  excited  the 


Colonial   Woman  and  Religion  43 

colony  as  did  this  disturbance  in  both  church  and  state. 
While  much  has  been  written,  so  much  of  partisanship 
is  displayed  in  all  the  statements  that  it  is  with  great 
difficulty  that  we  are  able  really  to  separate  the  facts 
from  jealousy  and  bitterness.  During  the  first  few 
months  of  her  stay  she  seems  to  have  been  commended 
for  her  faithful  attendance  at  church,  her  care  of  the 
sick,  and  her  benevolent  attitude  toward  the  com 
munity.  Even  her  meetings  for  the  sisters  were  praised 
by  the  pastors.  But,  not  content  with  holding  meetings 
for  her  neighbors,  she  criticised  the  preachers  and  their 
teachings.  This  was  especially  irritating  to  the  good 
Elders,  because  woman  was  supposed  to  be  the  silent 
member  in  the  household  and  meetinghouse,  and  not 
capable  of  offering  worthy  criticism.  But  even  then  the 
matter  might  have  been  passed  in  silence  if  the  church 
and  state  had  not  been  one,  and  the  pastors  politicians. 
Hutchinson,  a  kinsman  of  the  rebellious  leader,  says  in 
his  History  of  Massachusetts  Bay: 

"  It  is  highly  probable  that  if  Mr.  Vane  had  remained 
in  England,  or  had  not  craftily  made  use  of  the  party 
which  maintained  these  peculiar  opinions  in  religion, 
to  bring  him  into  civil  power  and  authority  and  draw  the 
affections  of  the  people  from  those  who  were  their 
leaders  into  the  wilderness,  these,  like  many  other  errors, 
might  have  prevailed  a  short  time  without  any  dis 
turbance  to  the  state,  and  as  the  absurdity  of  them 
appeared,  silently  subsided,  and  posterity  would  not 
have  known  that  such  a  woman  as  Mrs.  Hutchinson 
ever  existed.  ...  It  is  difficult  to  discover,  from  Mr. 
Cotton's  own  account  of  his  principles  published  ten  years 
afterwards,  in  his  answer  to  Bailey,  wherein  he  differed 


44  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

from  her.  .  .  .  He  seems  to  have  been  in  danger  when 
she  was  upon  trial.  The  .  .  .  ministers  treated  him 
coldly,  but  Mr.  Winthrop,  whose  influence  was  now 
greater  than  ever,  protected  him." 

Just  what  were  Anne  Hutchinson's  doctrines  no  one 
has  ever  been  able  to  determine;  even  Winthrop,  a 
very  able,  clear-headed  man  who  was  well  versed  in 
Puritan  theology,  and  who  was  one  of  her  most  powerful 
opponents,  said  he  was  unable  to  define  them.  "  The 
two  capital  errors  with  which  she  was  charged  were 
these:  That  the  Holy  Ghost  dwells  personally  in  a 
justified  person;  and  that  nothing  of  sanctification  can 
help  to  evidence  to  believers  their  justification."16 

Her  teachings  were  not  unlike  those  of  the  Quietists 
and  that  of  the  "  Inner  Light,"  set  forth  by  the  Quakers 
—  a  doctrine  that  has  always  held  a  charm  for  people 
who  enjoy  the  mystical.  But  it  was  not  so  much  the 
doctrines  probably  as  the  fact  that  she  and  her  fol 
lowers  were  a  disturbing  element  that  caused  her  expul 
sion  from  a  colony  where  it  was  vital  and  necessary  to 
the  existence  of  the  settlement  that  harmony  should 
prevail.  There  had  been  great  hardships  and  sacrifices; 
even  yet  the  colony  was  merely  a  handful  of  people 
surrounded  by  thousands  of  active  enemies.  If  these 
colonists  were  to  live  there  must  be  uniformity  and 
conformity.  "  When  the  Pequots  threatened  Massa 
chusetts  colony  a  few  men  in  Boston  refused  to  serve. 
These  were  Antinomians,  followers  of  Anne  Hutchinson, 
who  suspected  their  chaplain  of  being  under  a  '  Covenant 
of  works,'  whereas  their  doctrine  was  one  should  live 
under  a  '  Covenant  of  grace.'  This  is  one  of  the  great 

18  Hutchinaon:  History  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  Chapter  I. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Religion  45 

reasons  why  they  were  banished.  It  was  the  very 
life  of  the  colony  that  they  should  have  conformity, 
and  all  of  them  as  one  man  could  scarcely  withstand  the 
Indians.  Therefore  this  religious  doctrine  was  working 
rebellion  and  sedition,  and  endangering  the  very  exis 
tence  of  the  state."17 

Mistress  Hutchinson  was  given  a  church  trial,  and 
after  long  days  of  discussion  was  banished.  Her  sen 
tence  as  recorded  stands  as  follows:  "  Mrs.  Hutchinson, 
the  wife  of  Mr.  William  Hutchinson,  being  convented 
for  traducing  the  ministers  and  their  ministry  in  the 
country,  she  declared  voluntarily  her  revelation,  and 
that  she  should  be  delivered,  and  the  court  ruined  with 
her  posterity,  and  thereupon  was  banished."18  The 
facts  prove  that  she  must  have  been  a  woman  of  shrewd 
ness,  force,  personality,  intelligence,  and  endowed  with 
the  ability  to  lead.  At  her  trial  she  was  certainly  the 
equal  of  the  ministers  in  her  sharp  and  puzzling  replies. 
The  theological  discussion  was  exciting  and  many  were 
the  fine-spun,  hair-splitting  doctrines  brought  forward 
on  either  side;  but  to-day  the  mere  reading  of  them  is  a 
weariness  to  the  flesh. 

Anne  Hutchinson's  efforts,  according  to  some  view 
points,  may  have  been  a  failure,  but  they  revealed  in 
unmistakable  manner  the  emotional  starvation  of  Puri 
tan  womanhood.  Women,  saddened  by  their  hardships, 
depressed  by  their  religion,  denied  an  open  love  for 
beauty,  with  none  of  the  usual  food  for  imagination  or  the 
common  outlets  for  emotions,  such  as  the  modern  woman 
has  in  her  magazines,  books,  theatre  and  social  func- 

17  Fiake:  Dutch  and  Quaker  Colonies  in  America,  Vol.  I,  p.  232. 

18  Hutchinson:   History  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  Chapter  I. 


46  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

tions,  flocked  with  eagerness  to  hear  this  feminine 
radical.  They  seemed  to  realize  that  their  souls  were 
starving  for  something  —  they  may  not  have  known 
exactly  what.  At  first  they  may  have  gone  to  the 
assemblies  simply  because  such  an  unusual  occurrence 
offered  at  least  a  change  or  a  diversion;  but  a  very  little 
listening  seems  to  have  convinced  them  that  this  woman 
understood  the  female  heart  far  better  than  did  John 
Cotton  or  any  other  male  pastor  of  the  settlements. 
Moreover,  the  theory  of  "  inner  light  "  or  the  "  cove 
nant  of  grace "  undoubtedly  appealed  as  something 
novel  and  refreshing  after  the  prolonged  soul  fast  under 
the  harshness  and  intolerance  of  the  Calvinistic  creed. 
The  women  told  their  women  friends  of  the  new  theories, 
and  wives  and  mothers  talked  of  the  matter  to  husbands 
and  fathers  until  gradually  a  great  number  of  men 
became  interested.  The  churches  of  Massachusetts 
Bay  Colony  were  in  imminent  danger  of  losing  their 
grasp  upon  the  people  and  the  government.  It  is  evi 
dent  that  in  the  home  at  least  the  Puritan  woman  was  not 
entirely  the  silent,  meek  creature  she  was  supposed  to  be ; 
her  opinions  were  not  only  heard  by  husband  and  father, 
but  heeded  with  considerable  respect. 

And  what  became  of  this  first  woman  leader  in 
America?  Whether  the  fate  of  this  woman  was  typical 
of  what  was  in  store  for  all  female  speakers  and  women 
outside  their  place  is  not  stated  by  the  elders;  but  they 
were  firm  in  their  belief  that  her  death  was  an  appro 
priate  punishment.  She  removed  to  Rhode  Island  and 
later  to  New  York,  where  she  and  all  her  family,  with  the 
exception  of  one  person,  were  killed  by  the  Indians. 
As  Thomas  Welde  says  in  the  preface  of  A  Short  Story 


Colonial  Woman  and  Religion  47 

of  the  Rise,  Wane  and  Ruin  of  the  Antinomians  (1644) : 
"  I  never  heard  that  the  Indians  in  these  parts  did  ever 
before  commit  the  like  outrage  upon  any  one  family,  or 
families;  and  therefore  God's  hand  is  the  more  appar 
ently  seen  herein,  to  pick  out  this  woful  woman,  to  make 
her  and  those  belonging  to  her  an  unheard  of  heavy 
example  of  their  cruelty  above  others." 

VIII.     Woman  and  Witchcraft 

It  was  at  staid  Boston  that  Anne  Hutchinson  mar 
shalled  her  forces;  it  was  at  peace-loving  Salem  that  the 
Devil  marshalled  his  witches  in  a  last  despairing  on 
slaught  against  the  saints.  To  many  readers  there 
may  seem  to  be  little  or  no  connection  between  witch 
craft  and  religion;  but  an  examination  of  the  facts 
leading  to  the  execution  of  the  various  martyrs  to  super 
stition  at  Salem  will  convince  the  skeptical  that  there 
was  a  most  intimate  relationship  between  the  Puritan 
creed  and  the  theory  of  witchcraft. 

Looking  back  after  the  passing  of  more  than  two  hun 
dred  years,  we  cannot  but  deem  it  strange  that  such  an 
enlightened,  educated  and  thoroughly  intelligent  folk 
as  the  Puritans  could  have  believed  in  the  possession  of 
this  malignant  power.  Especially  does  it  appear 
incredible  when  we  remember  that  here  was  a  people 
that  came  to  this  country  for  the  exercise  of  religious 
freedom,  a  citizenship  that  was  descended  from  men 
trained  in  the  universities  of  England,  a  stalwart  band 
that  under  extreme  privation  had  founded  a  college 
within  sixteen  years  after  the  settlement  of  a'  wilderness. 
It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  the  Massa 
chusetts  colonies  were  not  alone  in  this  belief  in  witch- 


48  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

craft.  It  was  common  throughout  the  world,  and  was 
as  aged  as  humanity.  Deprived  of  the  aid  of  modern 
science  in  explaining  peculiar  processes  and  happenings, 
man  had  long  been  accustomed  to  fall  back  upon  devils, 
witches,  and  evil  spirits  as  premises  for  his  arguments. 
While  the  execution  of  the  witch  was  not  so  common  an 
event  elsewhere  in  the  world,  during  the  Salem  period, 
yet  it  was  not  unknown  among  so-called  enlightened 
people.  As  late  as  1712  a  woman  was  burned  near 
London  for  witchcraft,  and  several  city  clergymen  were 
among  the  prosecutors. 

A  few  extracts  from  colonial  writings  should  make 
clear  the  attitude  of  the  Puritan  leaders  toward  these 
unfortunates  accused  of  being  in  league  with  the  devil. 
Winthrop  thus  records  a  case  in  1648:  "  At  the  court 
one  Margaret  Jones  of  Charlestown  was  indicted  and 
found  guilty  of  witchcraft,  and  hanged  for  it.  The 
evidence  against  her  was,  that  she  was  found  to  have 
such  a  malignant  touch,  as  many  persons,  (men,  women, 
and  children),  whom  she  stroked  or  touched  with  any 
affection  or  displeasure,  etc.,  were  taken  with  deafness 
...  or  other  violent  pains  or  sickness.  .  .  .  Some 
things  which  she  foretold  came  to  pass.  .  .  .  Her 
behaviour  at  her  trial  was  very  intemperate,  lying  notori 
ously,  and  railing  upon  the  jury  and  witnesses,  etc.,  and 
in  the  like  distemper  she  died.  The  same  day  and  hour 
she  was  executed,  there  was  a  very  great  tempest  at 
Connecticut,  which  blew  down  many  trees,  etc."  19 

Whether  in  North  or  in  South,  whether  among  Prot 
estants  or  Catholics,  this  belief  in  witchcraft  existed. 
In  one  of  the  annual  letters  of  the  "  English  Province 

«•  History  of  New  England,  Vol.  II,  p.  397. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Religion  49 

of  the  Society  of  Jesus/'  written  in  1656,  we  find  the 
following  comment  concerning  the  belief  among  emi 
grants  to  Maryland:  "  The  tempest  lasted  two  months 
in  all,  whence  the  opinion  arose,  that  it  was  not  raised 
by  the  violence  of  the  sea  or  atmosphere,  but  was 
occasioned  by  the  malevolence  of  witches.  Forthwith 
they  seize  a  little  old  woman  suspected  of  sorcery;  and 
after  examining  her  with  the  strictest  scrutiny,  guilty 
or  not  guilty,  they  slay  her,  suspected  of  this  very 
heinous  sin.  The  corpse,  and  whatever  belonged 
to  her,  they  cast  into  the  sea.  But  the  winds  did  not 
thus  remit  their  violence,  or  the  raging  sea  its  threaten- 
ings  .  .  ."20 

Even  in  Virginia,  where  less  rigid  religious  authority 
existed,  it  was  not  uncommon  to  hear  accusations  of 
sorcery  and  witchcraft.  The  form  of  hysteria  at  length 
reached  at  Salem  was  the  result  of  no  sudden  burst  of 
terror,  but  of  a  long  evolution  of  ideas  dealing  with  the 
power  of  Satan.  As  early  as  1638  Josselyn,  a  traveler 
in  New  England,  wrote  in  New  England's  Rarelies 
Discovered:  "  There  are  none  that  beg  in  the  country, 
but  there  be  witches  too  many  .  .  .  that  produce  many 
strange  apparitions  if  you  will  believe  report,  of  a  shal 
lop  at  sea  manned  with  women;  of  a  ship  and  a  great 
red  horse  standing  by  the  main-mast,  the  ship  being  in 
a  small  cove  to  the  eastward  vanished  of  a  sudden. 
Of  a  witch  that  appeared  aboard  of  a  ship  twenty  leagues 
to  sea  to  a  mariner  who  took  up  the  carpenter's  broad 
axe  and  cleft  her  head  with  it,  the  witch  dying  of  the 
wound  at  home." 

The  religion  of  Salem  and  Boston  was  well  fitted  for 

«  Narratives  of  Early  Maryland,  p.  141. 


50  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

developing  this  very  theory  of  malignant  power  in 
"  possessed  "  persons.  The  teachings  that  there  was  a 
personal  devil,  that  God  allowed  him  to  tempt  mankind, 
that  there  were  myriads  of  devils  under  Satan's  control 
at  all  times,  ever  watchful  to  entrap  the  unwary,  that 
these  devils  were  rulers  over  certain  territory  and  certain 
types  of  people  —  these  teachings  naturally  led  to  the 
assumption  that  the  imps  chose  certain  persons  as  their 
very  own.  Moreover,  the  constant  reminders  of  the 
danger  of  straying  from  the  strait  and  narrow  way,  and 
of  the  tortures  of  the  afterworld  led  to  self-consciousness, 
introspection,  and  morbidness.  The  idea  that  Satan 
was  at  all  times  seeking  to  undermine  the  Puritan  church 
also  made  it  easy  to  believe  that  anyone  living  out 
side  of,  or  contrary  to,  that  church  was  an  agent  of  the 
devil,  in  short,  bewitched.  As  it  is  only  the  useful 
that  survives,  it  was  essential  that  the  army  of  devils 
be  given  a  work  to  do,  and  this  work  was  evident  in  the 
spirit  of  those  who  dared  to  act  and  think  in  non-con 
formity  to  the  rule  of  the  church.  The  devil's  ways, 
too,  were  beyond  the  comprehension  of  man,  cunning, 
smooth,  sly;  the  most  godly  might  fall  a  victim,  with 
the  terrible  consequence  that  one  might  become 
bewitched  and  know  it  not.  At  this  stage  it  was  the 
bounden  duty  of  the  unfortunate  being's  church  breth 
ren  to  help  him  by  inducing  him  to  confess  the  indwelling 
of  an  evil  spirit  and  thus  free  himself  from  the  great 
impostor.  And  if  he  did  not  confess  then  it  were  better 
that  he  be  killed,  lest  the  devil  through  him  contaminate 
all.  Why,  says  Mather,  in  his  Wonders  of  the  Invisible 
World:  "  If  the  devils  now  can  strike  the  minds  of  men 
with  any  poisons  of  so  fine  a  composition  and  operation, 


Colonial  Woman  and  Religion  51 

that  scores  of  innocent  people  shall  unite  in  confessions 
of  a  crime  which  we  see  actually  committed,  it  is  a  thing 
prodigious,  beyond  the  wonders  of  the  former  ages,  and 
it  threatens  no  less  than  a  sort  of  dissolution  upon  the 
world." 

To  avoid  or  counteract  this  desolation  was  the  purpose 
of  the  legal  proceedings  at  Salem.  It  was  believed  by 
fairly  intelligent  people  that  Satan  carried  with  him  a 
black  book  in  which  he  induced  his  victims  to  write 
their  names  with  their  own  blood,  signifying  thereby 
that  they  had  given  their  souls  into  his  keeping,  and  were 
henceforth  his  liegemen.  The  rendezvous  of  these  lost 
and  damned  was  deep  in  the  forest;  the  time  of  meeting, 
midnight.  In  such  a  place  and  at  such  an  hour  the 
assembly  of  witches  and  wizards  plotted  against  the 
saints  of  God,  namely,  the  Puritans.  According  to 
Cotton  Mather's  Wonders  of  the  Invisible  World,  at  the 
trial  of  one  of  these  martyrs  to  superstition,  George 
Burroughs,  he  was  accused  by  eight  of  the  confessing 
witches  "  as  being  the  head  actor  at  some  of  their  hellish 
rendezvouzes,  and  one  who  had  the  promise  of  being  a 
king  in  Satan's  kingdom,  now  going  to  be  erected. 
One  of  them  falling  into  a  kind  of  trance  affirmed  that 
G.  B.  had  carried  her  away  into  a  very  high  mountain, 
where  he  shewed  her  mighty  and  glorious  kingdoms,  and 
said,  '  he  would  give  them  all  to  her,  if  she  would  write 
in  his  book.'  ' 

In  such  an  era,  of  course,  the  attempt  was  too  often 
made  to  explain  events,  not  in  the  light  of  common  rea 
son,  but  as  visitations  of  God  to  try  the  faith  of  the  folk, 
or  as  devices  of  Satan  to  tempt  them  from  the  narrow 
path.  Such  an  affliction  as  "  nerves  "  was  not  readily 


52  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

acknowledged,  and  anyone  subject  to  fits  or  nervous 
disorders,  or  any  child  irritable  or  tempestuous  might 
easily  be  the  victim  of  witchcraft.  Note  what  Increase 
Mather  has  to  say  on  the  matter  when  explaining  the 
case  of  the  children  of  John  Goodwin  of  Boston:  "  .  .  . 
In  the  day  time  they  were  handled  with  so  many  sorts 
of  Ails,  that  it  would  require  of  us  almost  as  much  time 
to  Relate  them  all,  as  it  did  of  them  to  Endure  them. 
Sometimes  they  would  be  Deaf,  sometimes  Dumb,  and 
sometimes  Blind,  and  often,  all  this  at  once.  .  .  .  Their 
necks  would  be  broken,  so  that  their  Neck-bone  would 
seem  dissolved  unto  them  that  felt  after  it ;  and  yet  on 
the  sudden,  it  would  become  again  so  stiff  that  there  was 
no  stirring  of  their  Heads.  .  .  ."21 

As  we  have  noted  in  previous  pages,  the  morbidness 
and  supersensitive  spiritual  condition  of  the  colonists 
brought  on  by  the  peculiar  social  environment  had  for 
many  years  prepared  the  way  for  just  such  a  tragic 
attitude  toward  physical  and  mental  ailments.  The 
usual  safety  vents  of  modern  society,  the  common  func 
tions  we  may  class  as  general  "  good  times,"  were  denied 
the  soul,  and  it  turned  back  to  feed  upon  itself.  The 
following  hint  by  Sewall,  written  a  few  years  before  the 
witchcraft  craze,  is  significant:  "  Thorsday,  Novr.  12. 
After  the  Ministers  of  this  Town  Come  to  the  Court  and 
complain  against  a  Dancing  Master,  who  seeks  to  set 
up  here,  and  hath  mixt  Dances,  and  his  time  of  Meeting 
is  Lecture-Day;  and  'tis  reported  he  should  say  that  by 
one  Play  he  could  teach  more  Divinity  than  Mr.  Willard 
or  the  Old  Testament.  Mr.  Moodey  said  'twas  not  a 
time  for  N.  E.  to  dance.  Mr.  Mather  struck  at  the 

«  Narratives  of  Witchcraft  Cases,  p.  102. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Religion  53 

Root,  speaking  against  mixt  Dances."22  And  again 
in  the  records  by  another  colonist,  Prince,  we  note: 
"  1631.  March  22.  First  Court  at  Boston.  Ordered 
That  all  who  have  cards,  dice,  or  '  tables  '  in  their  houses 
shall  make  way  with  them  before  the  next  court."23 

But  the  lack  of  social  safety  valves  seemingly  did  not 
suggest  itself  to  the  Puritan  fathers;  not  the  causes,  but 
the  religious  effect  of  the  matter  was  what  those  stern 
churchmen  sought  to  destroy.  Says  Cotton  Mather: 
"  So  horrid  and  hellish  is  the  Crime  of  Witchcraft, 
that  were  Gods  Thoughts  as  our  thoughts,  or  Gods 
Wayes  as  our  wayes,  it  could  be  no  other,  but  Unpar 
donable.  But  that  Grace  of  God  may  be  admired,  and 
that  the  worst  of  Sinners  may  be  encouraged,  Behold, 
Witchcraft  also  has  found  a  Pardon.  .  .  .  From  the 
Hell  of  Witchcraft  our  merciful  Jesus  can  fetch  a  guilty 
Creature  to  the  Glory  of  Heaven.  Our  Lord  hath  some 
times  Recovered  those  who  have  in  the  most  horrid 
manner  given  themselves  away  to  the  Destroyer  of  their 
souls."24 

Where  did  this  mania,  this  riot  of  superstition  and 
fanaticism  that  resulted  in  so  much  sorrow  and  so  many 
deaths  have  its  beginning  and  origin?  Coffin  in  his 
Old  Times  in  the  Colonies  has  summed  up  the  matter 
briefly  and  vividly:  "  The  saddest  story  in  the  history 
of  our  country  is  that  of  the  witch  craze  at  Salem,  Mass., 
brought  about  by  a  negro  woman  and  a  company  of  girls. 
The  negress,  Tituba,  was  a  slave,  whom  Rev.  Samuel 
Parris,  one  of  the  ministers  of  Salem,  had  purchased  in 
Barbadoes.  We  may  think  of  Tituba  as  seated  in  the 

»  Sewall:  Diary,  Vol.  I,  p.  103. 

21  Annals  of  New  England,  Vol.  I.  p.  579. 

*  Narratives  of  Witchcraft  Cases,  p.  135. 


54  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

old  kitchen  of  Mr.  Parris's  house  during  the  long  winter 
evenings,  telling  witchcraft  stories  to  the  minister's 
niece,  Elizabeth,  nine  years  old.  She  draws  a  circle  in 
the  ashes  on  the  hearth,  burns  a  lock  of  hair,  and  mut 
ters  gibberish.  They  are  incantations  to  call  up  the 
devil  and  his  imps.  The  girls  of  the  village  gather  in  the 
old  kitchen  to  hear  Tituba's  stories,  and  to  mutter  words 
that  have  no  meaning.  The  girls  are  Abigail  Williams, 
who  is  eleven;  Anne  Putnam,  twelve;  Mary  Walcot 
and  Mary  Lewis,  seventeen;  Elizabeth  Hubbard,  Eliza 
beth  Booth,  and  Susannah  Sheldon,  eighteen;  and  two 
servant  girls,  Mary  Warren,  and  Sarah  Churchill. 
Tituba  taught  them  to  bark  like  dogs,  mew  like  cats, 
grunt  like  hogs,  to  creep  through  chairs  and  under  tables 
on  their  hands  and  feet,  and  pretend  to  have  spasms.  .  .  . 
Mr.  Parris  had  read  the  books  and  pamphlets  published 
in  England  .  .  .  and  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
they  were  bewitched.  He  sent  for  Doctor  Griggs  who 
said  that  the  girls  were  not  sick,  and  without  doubt 
were  bewitched.  .  .  .  The  town  was  on  fire.  Who 
bewitches  you?  they  were  asked.  Sarah  Good,  Sarah 
Osburn,  and  Tituba,  said  the  girls.  Sarah  Good  was  a 
poor,  old  woman,  who  begged  her  bread  from  door  to 
door.  Sarah  Osburn  was  old,  wrinkled,  and  sickly."25 

The  news  of  the  peculiar  actions  of  the  girls  spread 
throughout  the  settlement;  people  flocked  to  see  their 
antics.  By  this  time  the  children  had  carried  the 
"  fun  "  so  far  that  they  dared  not  confess,  lest  the 
punishment  be  terrific,  and,  therefore,  to  escape  the 
consequences,  they  accused  various  old  women  of 
bewitching  them.  Undoubtedly  the  little  ones  had  no 

»  Page  210. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Religion  55 

idea  that  the  delusion  would  seize  so  firmly  upon  the 
superstitious  nature  of  the  people;  but  the  settlers, 
especially  the  clergymen  and  the  doctors,  took  the  matter 
seriously  and  brought  the  accused  to  trial.  The  craze 
spread;  neighbor  accused  neighbor;  enemies  apparently 
tried  to  pay  old  scores  by  the  same  method;  and  those 
who  did  not  confess  were  put  to  death.  It  is  a  fact 
worth  noting  that  the  large  majority  of  the  witnesses 
and  the  greater  number  of  the  victims  were  women. 
The  men  who  conducted  the  trials  and  passed  the 
verdict  of  "  guilty  "  cannot,  of  course,  stand  blameless; 
but  it  was  the  long  pent-up  but  now  abnormally  awak 
ened  imagination  of  the  women  that  wrought  havoc 
through  their  testimony  to  incredible  things  and  their 
descriptions  of  unbelievable  actions.  No  doubt  many 
a  personal  grievance,  petty  jealousy,  ancient  spite,  and 
neighborhood  quarrel  entered  into  the  conflict;  but 
the  results  were  out  of  all  proportion  to  such  causes,  and 
remain  to-day  among  the  blackest  and  most  sorrowful 
records  on  the  pages  of  American  history. 

As  stated  above,  some  of  the  testimony  was  incredi 
ble  and  would  be  ridiculous  if  the  outcome  had  not  been 
so  tragic.  Let  us  read  some  bits  from  the  records  of 
those  solemn  trials.  Increase  Mather  in  his  Remarka 
ble  Providences  relates  the  following  concerning  the 
persecution  of  William  Morse  and  wife  at  Newberry, 
Massachusetts:  "  On  December  8,  in  the  Morning, 
there  were  five  great  Stones  and  Bricks  by  an  invisible 
hand  thrown  in  at  the  west  end  of  the  house  while  the 
Mans  Wife  was  making  the  Bed,  the  Bedstead  was 
lifted  up  from  the  floor,  and  the  Bedstaff  flung  out  of  the 
Window,  and  a  Cat  was  hurled  at  her.  .  .  .  The  man's 


56  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

Wife  going  to  the  Cellar  .  .  .  the  door  shut  down  upon 
her,  and  the  Table  came  and  lay  upon  the  door,  and  the 
man  was  forced  to  remove  it  e're  his  Wife  could  be  re 
leased  from  where  she  was."26 

Again,  see  the  remarkable  vision  beheld  by  Goodman 
Hortado  and  his  wife  in  1683:  "  The  said  Mary  and  her 
Husband  going  in  a  Cannoo  over  the  River  they  saw  like 
the  head  of  a  man  new-shorn,  and  the  tail  of  a  white 
Cat  about  two  or  three  foot  distance  from  each  other, 
swimming  over  before  the  Cannoo,  but  no  body  appeared 
to  joyn  head  and  tail  together."26 

Cotton  Mather  in  his  Wonders  of  the  Invisible  World 
gives  us  some  insight  into  the  mental  and  physical  condi 
tion  of  many  of  the  witnesses  called  upon  to  testify  to 
the  works  of  Satan.  Some  of  them  undoubtedly  were 
far  more  in  need  of  an  expert  on  nervous  diseases  than 
of  the  ministrations  of  either  jurist  or  clergyman.  "  It 
cost  the  Court  a  wonderful  deal  of  Trouble,  to  hear  the 
Testimonies  of  the  Sufferers;  for  when  they  were  going 
to  give  in  their  Depositions,  they  would  for  a  long  time 
be  taken  with  fitts,  that  made  them  uncapable  of  say 
ing  anything.  The  Chief  Judge  asked  the  prisoner  who 
he  thought  hindered  these  witnesses  from  giving  their 
testimonies?  and  he  answered,  He  supposed  it  was 
the  Devil." 

It  must  have  been  a  reign  of  terror  for  the  Puritan 
mother  and  wife.  What  woman  could  tell  whether  she 
or  her  daughter  might  not  be  the  next  victim  of  the 
bloody  harvest?  Note  the  ancient  records  again. 
Here  are  the  words  of  the  colonist,  Robert  Calef,  in  his 
More  Wonders  of  the  Invisible  World:  "  September  9. 

»  Narratives  of  Witchcraft  Cases,  p.  38. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Religion  57 

Six  more  were  tried,  and  received  Sentence  of  Death; 
viz.,  Martha  Cory  of  Salem  Village,  Mary  Easty  of 
Topsfield,  Alice  Parker  and  Ann  Pudeater  of  Salem, 
Dorcas  Hoar  of  Beverly,  and  Mary  Bradberry  of  Salis 
bury.  September  1st,  Giles  Cory  was  prest  to  Death." 
And  Sewall  in  his  Diary  thus  speaks  of  the  same  barbar 
ous  execution  just  mentioned:  "Monday,  Sept.  19, 
1692.  About  noon,  at  Salem,  Giles  Cory  was  press'd 
to  death  for  standing  Mute;  much  pains  was  used  with 
him  two  days,  one  after  another,  by  the  Court  and  Capt. 
Gardner  of  Nantucket  who  had  been  of  his  acquaintance, 
but  all  in  vain."27 

Those  were  harsh  times,  and  many  a  man  or  woman 
showed  heroic  qualities  under  the  strain.  The  editor 
of  SewalPs  Diary  makes  this  comment  upon  the  silent 
heroism  of  the  martyr,  Giles  Cory:  "  At  first,  apparently, 
a  firm  believer  in  the  witchcraft  delusion,  even  to  the 
extent  of  mistrusting  his  saintly  wife,  who  was  executed 
three  days  after  his  torturous  death,  his  was  the  most 
tragic  of  all  the  fearful  offerings.  He  had  made  a  will, 
while  confined  in  Ipswich  jail,  conveying  his  property, 
according  to  his  own  preferences,  among  his  heirs;  and, 
in  the  belief  that  his  will  would  be  invalidated  and  his 
estate  confiscated,  if  he  were  condemned  by  a  jury  after 
pleading  to  the  indictment,  he  resolutely  preserved 
silence,  knowing  that  an  acquittance  was  an  impossi 
bility."27 

In  the  case  of  Cory  doubtless  the  majority  of  the 
people  thought  the  manner  of  death,  like  that  of  Anne 
Hutchinson,  \vas  a  fitting  judgment  of  God;  for  Sewall 
records  in  his  ever-helpful  Diary:  "  Sept.  20.  Now  I 

S7  Diary,  Vol.  I,  p.  364. 


58  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

hear  from  Salem  that  about  18  years  agoe,  he  [Giles 
Cory]  was  suspected  to  have  stamp'd  and  press'd  a  man 
to  death,  but  was  cleared.  Twas  not  remembered  till 
Ann  Putnam  was  told  of  it  by  said  Cory's  Spectre 
the  Sabbath  day  night  before  the  Execution."28 

The  Corys,  Eastys,  and  Putnams  were  families 
exceedingly  prominent  during  the  entire  course  of  the 
mania;  Ann  Putnam's  name  appears  again  and  again. 
She  evidently  was  a  woman  of  unusual  force  and  impres 
sive  personality,  and  many  were  her  revelations  concern 
ing  suspected  persons  and  even  totally  innocent  neigh 
bors.  Such  workers  brought  distressing  results,  and 
how  often  the  helpless  victims  were  women !  Hear  these 
echoes  from  the  gloomy  court  rooms:  "September  17: 
Nine  more  received  Sentence  of  Death,  viz.,  Margaret 
Scot  of  Rowly,  Goodwife  Reed  of  Marblehead,  Samuel 
Wardwell,  and  Mary  Parker  of  Andover,  also  Abigail 
Falkner  of  Andover  .  .  .  Rebecka  Eames  of  Boxford, 
Mary  Lacy  and  Ann  Foster  of  Andover,  and  Abigail 
Hobbs  of  Topsfield.  Of  these  Eight  were  Executed."29 
And  Cotton  Mather  in  a  letter  to  a  friend:  "Our 
Good  God  is  working  of  Miracles.  Five  Witches  were 
lately  Executed,  impudently  demanding  of  God  a 
Miraculous  Vindication  of  their  Innocency."  30 

And  yet  how  absurd  was  much  of  the  testimony  that 
led  to  such  wholesale  murder.  We  have  seen  some  of  it 
already.  Note  these  words  by  a  witness  against  Martha 
Carrier,  as  presented  in  Cotton  Mather's  Wonders  of  the 
Invisible  World:  "  The  devil  carry 'd  them  on  a  pole  to  a 
witch-meeting;  but  the  pole  broke,  and  she  hanging 

«  Diary:  Vol.  I,  p.  364. 

"  Narratives  of  Witchcraft  Cases,  p.  366. 

»»  Narratives  of  Witchcraft  Cases,  p.  215. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Religion  59 

about  Carrier's  neck,  they  both  fell  down,  and  she  then 
received  an  hurt  by  the  fall  whereof  she  was  not  at  this 
very  time  recovered.  .  .  .  This  rampant  hag,  Martha 
Carrier,  was  the  person,  of  whom  the  confessions  of  the 
witches,  and  of  her  own  children  among  the  rest,  agreed, 
that  the  devil  had  promised  her  she  should  be  Queen 
of  Hell." 

Here  and  there  a  few  brave  souls  dared  to  protest 
against  the  outrage;  but  they  were  exceedingly  few. 
Lady  Phipps,  wife  of  the  governor,  risked  her  life  by 
signing  a  paper  for  the  discharge  of  a  prisoner  condemned 
for  witchcraft.  The  jailor  reluctantly  obeyed  and 
lost  his  position  for  allowing  the  prisoner  to  go;  but 
in  after  years  the  act  must  have  been  a  source  of  genuine 
consolation  to  him.  Only  fear  must  have  restrained  the 
more  thoughtful  citizens  from  similar  acts  of  mercy. 
Even  children  were  imprisoned,  and  so  cruelly  treated 
that  some  lost  their  reason.  In  the  New  England 
History  and  General  Register  (XXV,  253)  is  found  this 
pathetic  note:  "  Dorcas  Good,  thus  sent  to  prison  '  as 
hale  and  well  as  other  children/  lay  there  seven  or  eight 
months,  and  '  being  chain'd  in  the  dungeon  was  so 
hardly  used  and  terrifyed'  that  eighteen  years  later  her 
father  alleged  '  that  she  hath  ever  since  been  very 
chargeable,  haveing  little  or  no  reason  to  govern  her 
self.'  "  31 

How  many  extracts  from  those  old  writings  might  be 
presented  to  make  a  graphic  picture  of  that  era  of 
horror  and  bloodshed.  No  one,  no  matter  what  his 
family,  his  manner  of  living,  his  standing  in  the  com 
munity,  was  safe.  Women  feared  to  do  the  least  thing 

«  Narratives  of  Witchcraft  Cases,  p.  159. 


60  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

unconventional;  for  it  was  an  easy  task  to  obtain  wit 
nesses,  and  the  most  paltry  evidence  might  cause  most 
unfounded  charges.  And  the  only  way  to  escape  death, 
be  it  remembered,  was  through  confession.  Otherwise 
the  witch  or  wizard  was  still  in  the  possession  of  the 
devil,  and,  since  Satan  was  plotting  the  destruction  of 
the  Puritan  church,  anything  and  anybody  in  the  power 
of  Satan  must  be  destroyed.  Those  who  met  death 
were  martyrs  who  would  not  confess  a  lie,  and  such  died 
as  a  protest  against  common  liberty  of  conscience.  No 
monument  has  been  erected  to  their  memory,  but  their 
names  remain  in  the  old  annals  as  a  warning  against 
bigotry  and  fanaticism.  Though  some  suffered  the 
agonies  of  a  horrible  death,  there  were  innumerable 
women  who  lived  and  yet  probably  suffered  a  thousand 
deaths  in  fear  and  foreboding.  Hear  once  more  the 
words  of  Robert  Calef's  ancient  book,  More  Wonders  of 
the  Invisible  World:  "  It  was  the  latter  end  of  February, 
1691,  when  divers  young  persons  belonging  to  Mr. 
Parris's  family,  and  one  or  more  of  the  neighbourhood, 
began  to  act  after  a  strange  and  unusual  manner,  viz., 
by  getting  into  holes,  and  creeping  under  chairs  and 
stools,  and  to  use  sundry  odd  postures  and  antick  ges 
tures,  uttering  foolish,  ridiculous  speeches.  .  .  .  The 
physicians  that  were  called  could  assign  no  reason  for 
this;  but  it  seems  one  of  them  .  .  .  told  them  he  was 
afraid  they  were  bewitched.  .  .  .  March  the  llth,  Mr. 
Parris  invited  several  neighbouring  ministers  to  join 
with  him  in  keeping  a  solemn  day  of  prayer  at  his  own 
house.  .  .  .  Those  ill  affected  .  .  .  first  complained 
of  ...  the  said  Indian  woman,  named  Tituba;  she 


Colonial  Woman  and  Religion  61 

confessed  that  the  devil  urged  her  to  sign  a  book  .  .  . 
and  also  to  work  mischief  to  the  children,  etc. 

"  A  child  of  Sarah  Good's  was  likewise  apprehended, 
being  between  4  and  5  years  old.  The  accusers  said 
this  child  bit  them,  and  would  shew  such  like  marks,  as 
those  of  a  small  set  of  teeth,  upon  their  arms.  .  .  . 

"  March  31,  1692,  was  set  apart  as  a  day  of  solemn 
humiliation  at  Salem  ...  on  which  day  Abigail  Wil 
liams  said,  '  that  she  saw  a  great  number  of  persons  in 
the  village  at  the  administration  of  a  mock  sacrament, 
where  they  had  bread  as  red  as  raw  flesh,  and  red  drink.'  ' 

The  husband  of  Mrs.  Gary,  who  afterwards  escaped, 
tells  this:  "  '  Having  been  there  [in  prison]  one  night, 
next  morning  the  jailer  put  irons  on  her  legs  (having 
received  such  a  command);  the  weight  of  them  was 
about  eight  pounds :  these  with  her  other  afflictions  soon 
brought  her  into  convulsion  fits,  so  that  I  thought  she 
would  have  died  that  night.  I  sent  to  entreat  that  the 
irons  might  be  taken  off;  but  all  entreaties  were  in 
vain.  .  .  ." 

"  John  Proctor  and  his  wife  being  in  prison,  the  sheriff 
came  to  his  house  and  seized  all  the  goods,  provisions 
and  cattle  .  .  .  and  left  nothing  in  the  house  for  the 
support  of  the  children.  .  .  ." 

"  Old  Jacobs  being  condemned,  the  sheriff  and  officers 
came  and  seized  all  he  had;  his  wife  had  her  wedding 
ring  taken  from  her  .  .  .  and  the  neighbours  in  charity 
relieved  her." 

"  The  family  of  the  Putnams  .  .  .  were  chief  prosecu 
tors  in  this  business." 

"  And  now  nineteen  persons  having  been  hanged,  and 
one  pressed  to  death,  and  eight  more  condemned,  in  all 


62  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

twenty  and  eight  .  .  .  about  fifty  having  confessed  .  .  . 
above  an  hundred  and  fifty  in  prison,  and  above  two 
hundred  more  accused;  the  special  commission  of  oyer 
and  terminer  comes  to  a  period.  ..." 

During  the  summer  of  1692  the  disastrous  material 
and  financial  results  of  the  reign  of  terror  became  so 
evident  that  the  shrewd  business  sense  of  the  colonist 
became  alarmed.  Harvests  were  ungathered,  fields  and 
cattle  were  neglected,  numerous  people  sold  their  farms 
and  moved  southward;  some  did  not  await  the  sale  but 
abandoned  their  property.  The  thirst  for  blood  could 
not  last,  especially  when  it  threatened  commercial  ruin. 
Moreover,  the  accusers  at  length  aimed  too  high; 
accusations  were  made  against  persons  of  rank,  members 
of  the  governor's  family,  and  even  the  relatives  of  the 
pastors  themselves.  "  The  killing  time  lasted  about 
four  months,  from  the  first  of  June  to  the  end  of  Septem 
ber,  1692,  and  then  a  reaction  came  because  the  inform 
ers  began  to  strike  at  important  persons,  and  named  the 
wife  of  the  governor.  Twenty  persons  had  been  put  to 
death  .  .  .  and  if  the  delusion  had  lasted  much  longer 
under  the  rules  of  evidence  that  were  adopted  everybody 
in  the  colony  except  the  magistrates  and  ministers  would 
have  been  either  hung  or  would  have  stood  charged  with 
witchcraft."32 

The  Puritan  clergymen  have  been  severely  blamed  for 
this  strange  wave  of  fanaticism,  and  no  doubt,  as  leaders 
in  the  movement,  they  were  largely  responsible;  but 
even  their  power  and  authority  could  never  have  caused 
such  wide-spread  terror,  had  not  the  women  of  the  day 
given  such  active  aid.  The  feminine  soul,  with  its  long 

w  Fisher:   Men,  Women  and  Manners  in  Colonial  Times,  p.  165. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Religion  63 

pent  emotions,  craved  excitement,  and  this  was  an 
opportunity  eagerly  seized  upon.  As  Fisher  says, 
"  As  their  religion  taught  them  to  see  in  human  nature 
only  depravity  and  corruption,  so  in  the  outward  nature 
by  which  they  were  surrounded,  they  saw  forewarnings 
and  signs  of  doom  and  dread.  Where  the  modern  mind 
now  refreshes  itself  in  New  England  with  the  beauties 
of  the  seashore,  the  forest,  and  the  sunset,  the  Puritan 
saw  only  threatenings  of  terror."33 

We  cannot  doubt  in  most  instances  the  sincerity  of 
these  men  and  women,  and  in  later  days,  when  confes 
sions  of  rash  and  hasty  charges  of  action  were  made, 
their  repentance  was  apparently  just  as  sincere.  Judge 
Sewall,  for  instance,  read  before  the  assembled  congrega 
tion  his  petition  to  God  for  forgiveness.  "  In  a  short 
time  all  the  people  recovered  from  their  madness,  [and] 
admitted  their  error.  ...  In  1697  the  General  Court 
ordered  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  for  what  had  been 
done  amiss  in  the  '  late  tragedy  raised  among  us  by 
Satan.'  Satan  was  the  scapegoat,  and  nothing  was  said 
about  the  designs  and  motives  of  the  ministers."34  Pos 
sibly  it  was  just  as  well  that  Satan  was  blamed;  for  the 
responsibility  is  thus  shifted  for  one  of  the  most  hideous 
pages  in  American  history. 

IX.     Religion  Outside  of  New  England 

Apparently  it  was  only  under  Puritanism  that  the 

colonial  woman  really  suffered  through  the  requirements 

of  her  religion.     In  other  colonies  there  may  have  been 

those  who  felt  hampered  and  restrained;   but  certainly 

M  Fisher:   Men,  Women  and  Manners  in  Colonial  Times,  p.  165. 
14  Fisher:   Men,  Women  and  Manners  in  Colonial  Times,  p.  171. 


64  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

in  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  the  Southern  provinces, 
there  was  no  creed  that  made  life  an  existence  of  dread 
and  fear.  In  most  parts  of  the  South  the  Established 
Church  of  England  was  the  authorized,  or  popular, 
religious  institution,  and  it  would  seem  that  the  women 
who  followed  its  teachings  were  as  reverent  and  pious, 
if  not  so  full  of  the  fear  of  judgment,  as  their  sisters  to 
the  North.  The  earliest  settlers  of  Virginia  dutifully 
observed  the  customs  and  ceremonies  of  the  established 
church,  and  it  was  the  dominant  form  of  religion  in 
Virginia  and  the  Carolinas  throughout  the  colonial  era. 
John  Smith  has  left  the  record  of  the  first  place  and 
manner  of  divine  worship  in  Virginia:  "  Wee  did  hang 
an  awning,  which  is  an  old  saile,  to  three  or  four  trees 
to  shadow  us  from  the  Sunne;  our  walls  were  railes  of 
Wood;  our  seats  unhewed  trees  till  we  cut  plankes; 
our  Pulpit  a  bar  of  wood  nailed  to  two  neighbouring  trees. 
In  foul  weather  we  shifted  into  an  old  rotten  tent;  this 
came  by  way  of  adventure  for  new.  This  was  our  Church 
till  we  built  a  homely  thing  like  a  barne  set  upon  Cratch- 
ets,  covered  with  rafts,  sedge,  and  earth ;  so  also  was  the 
walls;  the  best  of  our  houses  were  of  like  curiosity.  .  .  . 
Yet  we  had  daily  Common  Prayer  morning  and  eve 
ning;  every  Sunday  two  sermons;  and  every  three 
months  a  holy  Communion  till  our  Minister  died:  but 
our  Prayers  daily  with  an  Homily  on  Sundays  wee 
continued  two  or  three  years  after,  till  more  Preachers 
came." 

According  to  Bruce's  Institutional  History  of  Virginia 
in  the  Seventeenth  Century,™  it  would  seem  that  the  early 
Virginians  were  as  strict  as  the  New  Englanders  about 

M  Pages  22,  35. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Religion  65 

the  matter  of  church  attendance  and  Sabbath  observ 
ance.  When  we  come  across  the  notation  that  "  Sarah 
Purdy  was  indicted  1682  for  shelling  corn  on  Sunday," 
we  may  feel  rather  sure  that  during  at  least  the  first 
eighty  years  of  life  about  Jamestown  Sunday  must  have 
been  indeed  a  day  of  rest.  Says  Bruce:  "  The  first 
General  Assembly  to  meet  in  Virginia  passed  a  law 
requiring  of  every  citizen  attendance  at  divine  services 
on  Sunday.  The  penalty  imposed  was  a  fine,  if  one 
failed  to  be  present.  If  the  delinquent  was  a  freeman 
he  was  to  be  compelled  to  pay  three  shillings  for  each 
offense,  to  be  devoted  to  the  church,  and  should  he  be  a 
slave  he  was  to  be  sentenced  to  be  whipped."36 

In  Georgia  and  the  Carolinas  of  the  later  eighteenth 
century  the  influence  of  Methodism  —  especially  after 
the  coming  of  Wesley  and  Whitefield  —  was  marked, 
while  the  Scotch  Presbyterians  and  the  French  Hugue 
nots  exercised  a  wholesome  effect  through  their  strict 
honesty  and  upright  lives.  Among  these  two  latter 
sects  women  seem  to  have  been  very  much  in  the  back 
ground,  but  among  the  Methodists,  especially  in  Georgia, 
the  influence  of  woman  in  the  church  was  certainly 
noticeable.  There  was  often  in  the  words  and  deeds  of 
Southern  women  in  general  a  note  of  confident  trust  in 
God's  love  and  in  a  joyous  future  life,  rather  lacking  in 
the  writings  of  New  England.  Eliza  Pinckney,  for 
instance,  when  but  seventeen  years  old,  wrote  to  her 
brother  George  a  long  letter  of  advice,  containing  such 
tender,  yet  almost  exultant  language  as  the  following: 
"  To  be  conscious  we  have  an  Almighty  friend  to  bless 
our  Endeavours,  and  to  assist  us  in  all  Difficulties,  gives 

« Institutional  History,  Vol.  I,  p.  29. 


66  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

rapture  beyond  all  the  boasted  Enjoyments  of  the  world, 
allowing  them  their  utmost  Extent  &  fulness  of  joy. 
Let  us  then,  my  dear  Brother,  set  out  right  and  keep  the 
sacred  page  always  in  view.  .  .  .  God  is  Truth  itself 
and  can't  reveal  naturally  or  supernaturally  contrari 
eties."37 

There  is  a  sweet  reasonableness  about  this,  very 
refreshing  after  an  investigation  of  witches  or  myriads 
of  devils,  and,  on  the  whole,  we  find  much  more  sanity 
in  the  Southern  relationship  between  religion  and  life 
than  in  the  Northern.  While  there  was  some  bickering 
and  quarreling,  especially  after  the  arrival  of  Whitefield, 
yet  such  disputes  do  not  seem  to  have  left  the  bitterness 
and  suspicion  that  followed  in  the  trail  of  the  church 
trials  in  Massachusetts.  Indeed,  various  creeds  must 
have  lived  peacefully  side  by  side;  for  the  colonial 
surveyor,  de  Brahm,  speaks  of  nine  different  sects  in  a 
town  of  twelve  thousand  inhabitants,  and  makes  this 
further  comment:  "  Yet  are  (they)  far  from  being  in- 
couraged  or  even  inclined  to  that  disorder  which  is  so 
common  among  men  of  contrary  religious  sentiments  in 
other  parts  of  the  world.  .  .  .  (The)  inhabitants  (were) 
from  the  beginning  renound  for  concord,  compleasance, 
courteousness  and  tenderness  towards  each  other,  and 
more  so  towards  foreigners,  without  regard  or  respect  of 
nature  and  religion."37 

Perhaps,  however,  by  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century  religious  sanity  had  become  the  rule  both  North 
and  South;  for  there  are  many  evidences  at  that  later 
period  of  a  trust  in  the  mercy  of  God  and  comfort  in  His 
authority.  We  find  Abigail  Adams,  whose  letters  cover 

«  Ravenel:    Eliza  Pinckney,  p.  65. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Religion  67 

the  last  twenty-five  years  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
saying,  "  That  we  rest  under  the  shadow  of  the  Almighty 
is  the  consolation  to  which  I  resort  and  find  that  comfort 
which  the  world  cannot  give."38  And  Martha  Wash 
ington,  writing  to  Governor  Trumbull,  after  the  death  of 
her  husband,  says:  "  For  myself  I  have  only  to  bow  with 
humble  submission  to  the  will  of  that  God  who  giveth 
and  who  taketh  away,  looking  forward  with  faith  and 
hope  to  the  moment  when  I  shall  be  again  united  with 
the  partner  of  my  life."39  In  the  hour  when  the  long 
struggle  for  independence  was  opening,  Mercy  Warren 
could  write  in  all  confidence  to  her  husband,  "  I  somehow 
or  other  feel  as  if  all  these  things  were  for  the  best  — 
as  if  good  would  come  out  of  evil  —  we  may  be  brought 
low  that  our  faith  may  not  be  in  the  wisdom  of  men,  but 
in  the  protecting  providence  of  God."40  Among  the 
Dutch  of  New  York  religion,  like  eating,  drinking  and 
other  common  things  of  life,  was  taken  in  a  rather 
matter-of-fact  way.  Seldom  indeed  did  these  citizens 
of  New  Amsterdam  become  so  excited  about  doctrine 
as  to  quarrel  over  it;  they  were  too  well  contented  with 
life  as  it  was  to  contend  over  the  life  to  be.  Mrs.  Grant 
in  Memoirs  of  an  American  Lady  has  left  us  many  inti 
mate  pictures  of  the  life  in  the  Dutch  colony.  She  and 
her  mother  joined  her  father  in  New  York  in  1758,  and 
through  her  residence  at  Claverach,  Albany,  and  Oswego 
gained  thorough  knowledge  of  the  people,  their  customs, 
social  life  and  community  ideas  and  ideals.  Of  their 
relation  to  church  and  creed  she  remarks:  "  Their 
religion,  then,  like  their  original  national  character,  had 

*8  Letters,  'p.  106. 

«  Wharton:    Martha  Washington,  p.  280. 

<°  Brown:    Mercy  Warren,  p.  96. 


68  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

in  it  little  of  fervor  or  enthusiasm;  their  manner  of 
performing  religious  duties  regular  and  decent,  but  calm, 
and  to  more  ardent  imaginations  might  appear  mechan 
ical.  ...  If  their  piety,  however,  was  without  enthu 
siasm  it  was  also  without  bigotry;  they  wished  others  to 
think  as  they  did,  without  showing  rancor  or  contempt 
toward  those  who  did  not.  .  .  .  That  monster  in  nature, 
an  impious  woman,  was  never  heard  of  among  them."41 

Unlike  the  New  England  clergyman,  the  New  York 
parson  was  almost  without  power  of  any  sort,  and  was 
at  no  time  considered  an  authority  in  politics,  sickness, 
witchcraft,  or  domestic  affairs.  Mrs.  Grant  was  sur 
prised  at  his  lack  of  influence,  and  declared:  "  The 
dominees,  as  these  people  call  their  ministers,  contented 
themselves  with  preaching  in  a  sober  and  moderate  strain 
to  the  people;  and  living  quietly  in  the  retirement  of 
their  families,  were  little  heard  of  but  in  the  pulpit; 
and  they  seemed  to  consider  a  studious  privacy  as  one  of 
their  chief  duties."42  However,  it  was  only  in  New 
England  and  possibly  in  Virginia  for  a  short  time,  that 
church  and  state  were  one,  and  this  may  account  for 
much  of  the  difference  in  the  attitudes  of  the  preachers. 
In  New  York  the  church  was  absolutely  separate  from 
the  government,  and  unless  the  pastor  was  a  man  of 
exceedingly  strong  personality,  his  influence  was  never 
felt  outside  his  congregation. 

In  conclusion,  what  may  we  say  as  to  the  general 
status  of  the  colonial  woman  in  the  church?  Only  in 
the  Quaker  congregation  and  possibly  among  the 
Methodists  in  the  South  did  colonial  womanhood  suc- 

41  Memoirs  of  an  American  Lady,  p.  29. 
41  Memoirs  of  an  American  Lady,  p.  155. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Religion  69 

cessfully  assert  itself,  and  take  part  in  the  official  activi 
ties  of  the  institution.  In  the  Episcopal  church  of 
Virginia  and  the  Carolinas,  the  Catholic  Church  of 
Maryland  and  Louisiana,  and  the  Dutch  church  of  New 
York,  women  were  quiet  onlookers,  pious,  reverent,  and 
meek,  freely  acknowledging  God  in  their  lives,  content 
to  be  seen  and  not  heard.  In  the  Puritan  assembly, 
likewise,  they  were,  on  the  surface  at  least,  meek,  silent, 
docile;  but  their  silence  was  deceiving,  and,  as  shown 
in  the  witchcraft  catastrophe,  was  but  the  silence  of  a 
smouldering  volcano.  In  the  eighteenth  century,  the 
womanhood  of  the  land  became  more  assertive,  in 
religion  as  in  other  affairs,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that 
Mercy  Warren,  Eliza  Pinckney,  Abigail  Adams,  and 
others  mentioned  in  these  pages  were  thinkers  whose 
opinions  were  respected  by  both  clergy  and  laymen.  The 
Puritan  preacher  did  indeed  declare  against  speech  by 
women  in  the  church,  and  demanded  that  if  they  had 
any  questions,  they  should  ask  their  husbands;  but 
there  came  a  time,  and  that  quickly,  when  the  voice  of 
woman  was  heard  in  the  blood  of  Salem's  dead. 


CHAPTER  II 
COLONIAL  WOMAN  AND  EDUCATION 

/.     Feminine  Ignorance 

Unfortunately  when  we  attempt  to  discover  just  how 
thorough  woman's  mental  training  was  in  colonial  days 
we  are  somewhat  handicapped  by  the  lack  of  accurate 
data.     Here  and  there  through  the  early  writings  we 
have  only  the  merest  hints  as  to  what  girls  studied  and 
as  to  the  length  of  their  schooling.     Of  course,  through- 
!  out  the  world  in  the  seventeenth  century  it  was  not 
s  customary  to  educate  women  in  the  sense  that  men  in 
,  the  same  rank  were  educated.     Her  place  was  in  the 
( home,  and  as  economic  pressure  was  not  generally  such 
as  to  force  her  to  make  her  own  living  in  shop  or  factory 
or  office,  and  as  society  would  have  scowled  at  the  very 
idea,  she  naturally  prepared  only  for  marriage  and  home- 
*  making.     Very  few  men  of  the  era,  even  among  philos 
ophers  and  educational  leaders,  ever  seemed  to  think 
that  a  woman  might  be  a  better  mother  through  thor- 
.ough  mental  training.     And  the  women  themselves,  in 
the  main,  apparently  were  not  interested. 

The  result  was  that  there  long  existed  an  astonishingly 
large^  amount  of  illiteracy  among  them.  Through  an 
examination  made  for  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Education, 
it  has  been  found  that  among  women  signing  deeds  or 
other  legal  documents  in  Massachusetts,  from  1653 
to  1656,  as  high  as  fifty  per  cent  could  not  write  their 


Colonial  Woman  and  Education  71 

name,  and  were  obliged  to  sign  by  means  of  a  cross; 
while  as  late  as  1697  fully  thirty-eight  per  cent  were  as 
illiterate.  In  New  York  fully  sixty  per  cent  of  the 
Dutch  women  were  obliged  to  make  their  mark;  while 
in  Virginia,  where  deeds  signed  by  3,066  women  were 
examined,  seventy-five  per  cent  could  not  sign  their 
names.  If  the  condition  was  so  bad  among  those 
prosperous  enough  to  own  property,  what  must  it  have 
been  among  the  poor  and  so-called  lower  classes? 

We  know,  of  course,  that  early  in  the  seventeenth^ 
century  schools  attended  by  both  boys  and  girls  were! 
established  in  Massachusetts,  and  before  the  Pilgrims 
landed  at  Plymouth  there  was  at  least  one  public  school 
for  both  sexes  in  Virginia.  But  for  the  most  part  the? 
girls  of  early  New  England  appear  to  have  gone  to  the 
"  dame's  school,"  taught  by  some  spinster  or  poverty- 
stricken  widow.  We  may  again  turn  to  Sewall's  Diary 
for  bits  of  evidence  concerning  the  schooling  in  the 
seventeenth  century:  "  Tuesday,  Oct.  16,  1688.  Little 
Hanah  going  to  School  in  the  morn,  being  enter'd  a 
little  within  the  Schoolhouse  Lane,  is  rid  over  by  David 
Lopez,  fell  on  her  back,  but  I  hope  little  hurt,  save  that 
her  Teeth  bled  a  Little;  was  much  frighted;  but  went 
to  School."1  "  Friday,  Jan.  7th,  1686-7.  This  day 
Dame  Walker  is  taken  so  ill  that  she  sends  home  my 
Daughters,  not  being  able  to  teach  them."2  "  Wed 
nesday,  Jan.  19th,  1686-7.  Mr.  Stoughton  and  Dudley 
and  Capt.  Eliot  and  Self,  go  to  Muddy-River  to  Andrew 
Gardner's,  where  'tis  agreed  that  £12  only  in  or  as 
Money,  be  levyed  on  the  people  by  a  Rate  towards 

»  Vol.  I,  p.  231. 
«  Vol.  I,  p.  164. 


72  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

maintaining  a  School  to  teach  to  write  and  read  Eng 
lish."3  "Apr.  27,  1691.  .  .  .  This  afternoon  had 
Joseph  to  School  to  Capt.  Townsend's  Mother's,  his 
Cousin  Jane  accompanying  him,  carried  his  Horn 
book."4 

And  what  did  girls  of  Puritan  days  learn  in  the  "  dame 
schools  "?  Sewall  again  may  enlighten  us  in  a  notation 
in  his  Diary  for  1696:  "  Mary  goes  to  Mrs.  Thair's  to 

I  learn  to  Read  and  Knit."  More  than  one  hundred  years 
afterwards  (1817),  Abigail  Adams,  writing  of  her  child 
hood,  declared:  "My  early  education  did  not  partake 
of  the  abundant  opportunities  which  the  present  days 
offer,  and  which  even  our  common  country  schools  now 
afford.  I  never  was  sent  to  any  school.  I  was  always 
sick.  Female  education,  in  the  best  families  went  no 

I  farther  than  writing  and  arithmetic;  in  some  few  and 
rare  instances,  music  and  dancing."6 

The  Dutch  women  of  New  York,  famous  for  their  skill 
in  housekeeping,  probably  did  not  attend  school,  but 
received  at  home  what  little  they  knew  of  reading, 
writing,  and  arithmetic.  Mrs.  Grant,  speaking  of 
opportunities  for  female  education  in  New  Amsterdam 
in  1709,  makes  it  clear  that  the  training  of  a  girl's  brain 
troubled  no  Hollander's  head.  "  It  was  at  this  time 
very  difficult  to  procure  the  means  of  instruction  in 
those  inland  districts;  female  education,  of  consequence, 
was  conducted  on  a  very  limited  scale;  girls  learned 
needlework  (in  which  they  were  indeed  both  skilful  and 
ingenious)  from  their  mothers  and  aunts;  they  were 
taught  too  at  that  period  to  read,  in  Dutch,  the  Bible, 

«  Vol.  I,  p.  165. 
«  Vol.  I,  p.  344. 
•  Letters  of  Abigail  Adams,  p.  24. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Education  73 

and  a  few  Calvinist  tracts  of  the  devotional  kind.  But 
in  the  infancy  of  the  settlement  few  girls  read  English; 
when  they  did,  they  were  thought  accomplished;  they 
generally  spoke  it,  however  imperfectly,  and  few  were 
taught  writing.  This  confined  education  precluded 
elegance;  yet,  though  there  was  no  polish,  there  was  no 
vulgarity."6 

The  words  of  the  biographer  of  Catherine  Schuyler 
might  truthfully  have  been  applied  to  almost  any  girl 
in  or  near  the  quaint  Dutch  city:  "  Meanwhile  [about 
1740]  the  girl  [Catherine  Schuyler]  was  perfecting  her 
self  in  the  arts  of  housekeeping,  so  dear  to  the  Dutch 
matron.  The  care  of  the  dairy,  the  poultry,  the  spinning, 
the  baking,  the  brewing,  the  immaculate  cleanliness  of 
the  Dutch,  were  not  so  much  duties  as  sacred  household 
rites.7  So  much  for  womanly  education  in  New  Amster 
dam.  A  thorough  training  in  domestic  science,  enough 
arithmetic  for  keeping  accurate  accounts  of  expenses, 
and  precious  little  reading  —  these  were  considered 
ample  to  set  the  young  woman  on  the  right  path  for  her 
vocation  as  wife  and  mother. 

This  high  respect  for  arithmetic  was  by  no  means 
limited  to  New  York.  Ben  Franklin,  while  in  London, 
wrote  thus  to  his  daughter:  "  The  more  attentively 
dutiful  and  tender  you  are  towards  your  good  mama, 
the  more  you  will  recommend  yourself  to  me.  .  .  .  Go 
constantly  to  church,  whoever  preaches.  For  the  rest, 
I  would  only  recommend  to  you  in  my  absence,  to  acquire 
those  useful  accomplishments,  arithmetic,  and  book 
keeping.  This  jrou  might  do  with  ease,  if  you  would 

8  Memoirs  of  an  American  Lady,  p.  27. 
7  Humphreys:   Catherine  Schuyler,  p.  8. 


74  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

resolve  not  to  see  company  on  the  hours  set  apart  for 
.those  studies."8  In  addition,  however,  Franklin  seems 
not  to  have  been  averse  to  a  girl's  receiving  some  of  those 
social  accomplishments  which  might  add  to  her  graces ; 
for  in  1750  he  wrote  his  mother  the  following  message 
about  this  same  child:  "  Sally  grows  a  fine  Girl,  and  is 
extreamly  industrious  with  her  Needle,  and  delights  in 
her  Book.  She  is  of  a  most  affectionate  Temper,  and 
perfectly  dutiful  and  obliging  to  her  Parents,  and  to  all. 
Perhaps  I  flatter  myself  too  much,  but  I  have  hopes  that 
she  will  prove  an  ingenious,  sensible,  notable,  and  worthy 
Woman,  like  her  Aunt  Jenny.  She  goes  now  to  the 
Dancing-School.  .  .  ."9 

II.     Woman1  s  Education  in  the  South 

It  is  to  be  expected  that  there  was  much  more  of  this 
training  in  social  accomplishments  in  the  South  than  in 
the  North.  Among  the  "  first  families/'  in  Virginia 
and  the  Carolinas  the  daughters  regularly  received  in 
struction,  not  only  in  household  duties  and  the  supervi 
sion  of  the  multitude  of  servants,  but  in  music,  dancing, 
drawing,  etiquette  and  such  other  branches  as  might 
help  them  to  shine  in  the  social  life  that  was  so  abundant. 
Thomas  Jefferson  has  left  us  some  hints  as  to  the  educa 
tion  of  aristocratic  women  in  Virginia,  in  the  following 
letter  of  advice  to  his  daughter: 

"Dear  Patsy:  —  With  respect  to  the  distribution  of 
your  time,  the  following  is  what  I  should  approve : 

From  8  to  10,  practice  music. 

From  10  to  1,  dance  one  day  and  draw  another. 

"Smyth:  Writings  of  Ben  Franklin,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  202. 
•  Smyth:   Writing*  of  B.  Franklin,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  4. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Education  75 

From  1  to  2,  draw  on  the  day  you  dance,  and  write  a 
letter  next  day. 

From  3  to  4,  read  French. 

From  4,  to  5,  exercise  yourself  in  music. 

From  5  till  bedtime,  read  English,  write,  etc. 

"  Inform  e  me  what  books  you  read,  what  tunes  you 
learn,  and  inclose  me  your  best  copy  of  every  lesson  in 
drawing.  .  .  .  Take  care  that  you  never  spell  a  word 
wrong.  ...  It  produces  great  praise  to  a  lady  to  spell 
weU.  .  .  ."10 

It  should  be  noted,  of  course,  that  this  message  was 
written  in  the  later  years  of  the  eighteenth  century  when  ^ 
the  French  influence  in  America  was  far  more  prominent 
than  during  the  seventeenth.  Moreover,  Jefferson 
himself  had  then  been  in  France  some  time,  and  undoubt 
edly  was  permeated  with  French  ideas  and  ideals.  But 
the  established  custom  throughout  the  South,  except  in 
Louisiana,  demanded  that  the  daughters  of  the  leading 
families  receive  a  much  more  varied  form  of  schooling 
than  their  sisters  in  most  parts  of  the  North  were  obtain 
ing.  While  the  sons  of  wealthy  planters  were  frequently 
sent  to  English  universities,  the  daughters  were  trained 
under  private  tutors,  who  themselves  were  often  uni 
versity  graduates,  and  not  infrequently  well  versed  in 
languages  and  literatures.  The  advice  of  Philip  Fithian 
to  John  Peck,  his  successor  as  private  instructor  in  the 
family  of  a  wealthy  Virginian,  may  be  enlightening  as  to 
the  character  and  sincerity  of  these  colonial  teachers  of 
Southern  girls: 

"  The  last  direction  I  shall  venture  to  mention  on  this 
head,  is  that  you  abstain  totally  from  women.  What  I 

10  Ford:  Writings  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  345. 


76  Woman's  Life  m  Colonial  Days 

would  have  you  understand  from  this,  is,  that  by  a  train 
of  faultless  conduct  in  the  whole  course  of  your  tutor 
ship,  you  make  every  Lady  within  the  Sphere  of  your 
acquaintance,  who  is  between  twelve  and  forty  years  of 
age,  so  much  pleased  with  your  person,  &  so  satisfied  as 
to  your  ability  in  the  capacity  of  a  Teacher;  &  in  short, 
fully  convinced,  that,  from  a  principle  of  Duty,  you  have 
both,  by  night  and  by  day  endeavoured  to  acquit  your 
self  honourably,  in  the  Character  of  a  Tutor;  &  that 
this  account,  you  have  their  free  and  hearty  consent, 
without  making  any  manner  of  demand  upon  you,  either 
to  stay  longer  in  the  Country  with  them,  which  they 
would  choose,  or  whenever  your  business  calls  you  away, 
that  they  may  not  have  it  in  their  Power  either  by 
charms  or  Justice  to  detain  you,  and  when  you  must 
leave  them,  have  their  sincere  wishes  &  constant  prayrs 
for  Length  of  days  &  much  prosperity."11 

We  have  little  or  no  evidence  concerning  the  education 
of  women  belonging  to  the  Southern  laboring  class, 
except  the  investigation  of  court  papers  mentioned 
above,  showing  the  lamentable  amount  of  illiteracy. 
In  fact,  so  little  was  written  by  Southern  women,  high 
or  low,  of  the  colonial  period  that  it  is  practically  impos 
sible  to  state  anything  positive  about  their  intellectual 
training.  It  is  a  safe  conjecture,  however,  that  the 
schooling  of  the  average  woman  in  the  South  was  not 
equal  to  that  of  the  average  women  of  Massachusetts, 
but  was  probably  fully  equal  to  that  of  the  Dutch  women 
of  New  York.  And  yet  we  must  not  think  that  efforts 
in  education  in  the  southern  colonies  were  lacking. 
As  Dr.  Lyon  G.  Tyler  has  said:  "  Under  the  conditions 

»  Selections  from  Fithian's  Writings,  Aug.  12,  1774. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Education  77 

of  Virginia  society,  no  developed  educational  system 
was  possible,  but  it  is  wrong  to  suppose  that  there  was 
none.  The  parish  institutions  introduced  from  England 
included  educational  beginnings;  every  minister  had 
a  school,  and  it  was  the  duty  of  the  vestry  to  see  that  all 
poor  children  could  read  and  write.  The  county  courts 
supervised  the  vestries,  and  held  a  yearly  '  orphans 
court/  which  looked  after  the  material  and  educational 
welfare  of  all  orphans."12 

Indeed  the  interest  in  education  during  the  seven 
teenth  century,  in  Virginia  at  least,  seems  to  have  been 
general.  Repeatedly  in  examining  wills  of  the  period 
we  may  find  this  interest  expressed  and  explicit  direc 
tions  given  for  educating  not  only  the  boys,  but  the  girls. 
Bruce  in  his  valuable  work,  Institutional  History  of 
Virginia  in  the  Seventeenth  Century,  cites  a  number  of 
such  cases  in  which  provisions  were  made  for  the  train 
ing  of  daughters  or  other  female  relatives. 

"  In  1657,  Clement  Thresh,  of  Rappahannock,  in  his 
will  declared  that  all  his  estate  should  be  responsible  for 
the  outlay  made  necessary  in  providing,  during  three 
years,  instruction  for  his  step-daughter,  who,  being  then 
thirteen  years  of  age,  had,  no  doubt,  already  been  going 
to  school  for  some  length  of  time.  The  manner  of  com 
pleting  her  education  (which,  it  seems,  was  to  be  pro 
longed  to  her  sixteenth  year)  was  perhaps  the  usual  one 
for  girls  at  this  period:  —  she  was  to  be  taught  at  a  Mrs. 
Peacock's,  very  probably  by  Mrs.  Peacock  herself, 
who  may  have  been  the  mistress  of  a  small  school;  for 
it  was  ordered  in  the  will,  that  if  she  died,  the  step 
daughter  was  to  attend  the  same  school  as  Thomas 

11  American  Nation  Series,  England  in  America,  p.  116. 


78  Woman's  Life  m  Colonial  Days 

Goodrich's  children."13  "  Robert  Gascoigne  provided 
that  his  wife  should  .  .  .  keep  their  daughter  Bridget 
in  school,  until  she  could  both  read  and  sew  with  an 
equal  degree  of  skill."14  "  The  indentures  of  Anne 
Andrewes,  who  lived  in  Surry  .  .  .  required  her  master 
to  teach  her,  not  only  how  to  sew  and  '  such  things  as 
were  fitt  for  women  to  know/  but  also  how  to  read  and 
apparently  also  how  to  write."  .  .  .  "In  1691  a  girl 
was  bound  out  to  Captain  William  Crafford  .  .  .  under 
indentures  which  required  him  to  teach  her  how  to  spin, 
sew  and  read.  .  .  ,"15 

But,  as  shown  in  previous  pages,  female  illiteracy  in 
the  South,  at  least  during  the  seventeenth  century,  was 
surprisingly  great.  No  doubt,  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
as  the  country  became  more  thickly  settled,  education 
became  more  general,  but  for  a  long  time  the  women 
dragged  behind  the  men  in  plain  reading  and  writing. 
Bruce  declares:  "There  are  numerous  evidences  that 
illiteracy  prevailed  to  a  greater  extent  than  among 
persons  of  the  opposite  sex.  .  .  .  Among  the  entire 
female  population  of  the  colony,  without  embracing  the 
slaves,  only  one  woman  of  every  three  was  able  to  sign 
her  name  in  full,  as  compared  with  at  least  three  of  every 
five  persons  of  the  opposite  sex."16 

///.     Brilliant  Exceptions 

In  the  middle  colonies,  as  in  New  England,  schools  for 

•    all  classes  were  established  at  an  early  date.     Thus,  the 

first  school  in  Pennsylvania  was  opened  in  1683,  only 

"  Vol.  I,  p.  299. 
"  Vol.  I,  p.  301. 
»  Vol.  I,  p.  311. 
» Institutional  History  of  Virginia,  Vol.  I,  p.  454. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Education  79 

one  year  after  the  founding  of  Philadelphia,  and  ap 
parently  very  few  children  in  that  city  were  without 
schooling  of  some  sort.  As  is  commonly  agreed,  morei 
emphasis  was  placed  on  education  in  New  England  than  I 
in  any  of  the  other  colonies.  A  large  number  of  the 
men  who  established  the  Northern  colonies  were  uni 
versity  graduates,  naturally  interested  in  education,  and 
the  founding  of  Harvard,  sixteen  years  after  the  landing 
at  Plymouth,  proves  this  interest.  Moreover,  it  was 
considered  essential  that  every  man,  woman,  and  child  [ 
should  be  able  to  read  the  Bible,  and  for  this  reason,  if 
for  no  other,  general  education  would  have  been  en 
couraged.  As  Moses  Coit  Tyler  has  declared,  "  Theirs 
was  a  social  structure  with  its  corner  stone  resting  on  a 
book."  However  true  this  may  be,  we  are  not  warranted 
in  assuming  that  the  women  of  the  better  classes  in 
Massachusetts  were  any  more  thoroughly  educated, 
according  to  the  standards  of  the  time,  than  the  women  of 
the  better  classes  in  other  colonies.  We  do  indeed  find 
more  New  England  women  writing;  for  here  lived  the 
first  female  poet  in  America,  and  the  first  woman  preacher, 
and  thinkers  of  the  Mercy  Warren  type  who  show  in 
their  diaries  and  letters  a  keen  and  intelligent  interest 
in  public  affairs. 

It  seems  due,  however,  more  to  circumstances  that 
such  women  as  Mercy  Warren  and  Abigail  Adams  wrote 
much,  while  their  sisters  to  the  South  remained  com 
paratively  silent.  The  husband  of  each  of  these  two 
colonial  dames  was  absent  a  great  deal  and  these  men 
were,  therefore,  the  recipients  of  many  charming  letters 
now  made  public;  while  the  wife  of  the  better  class 
planter  in  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas  had  a  husband  who 


80  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

seldom  strayed  long  from  the  plantation.  Eliza  Pinck- 
ney's  letters  rival  in  interest  those  of  any  American 
woman  of  the  period,  and  if  her  husband  had  been  a 
man  as  prominent  in  war  and  political  affairs  as  John 
Adams,  her  letters  would  no  doubt  be  considered  today 
highly  valuable.  True,  Martha  Washington  was  in 
a  position  to  leave  many  interesting  written  comments; 
for  she  was  for  many  years  close  to  the  very  center  and 
origin  of  the  most  exciting  events ;  but  she  was  more  of  a 
quiet  housewife  than  a  woman  who  enjoyed  the  discus 
sion  of  political  events,  and,  besides,  with  a  certain 
inborn  reserve  and  reticence  she  took  pains  to  destroy 
much  of  the  private  correspondence  between  her  hus 
band  and  herself.  Perhaps,  with  the  small  amount  of 
evidence  at  hand  we  can  never  say  definitely  in  what 
particular  colonies  the  women  of  the  higher  classes  were 
most  highly  educated ;  apparently  very  few  of  them  were 
in  danger  of  receiving  an  over-dose  of  mental  stimulation. 

A  few  women,  however,  were  genuinely  interested  in 
cultural  study,  and  that  too  in  subjects  of  an  unusual 
character.  Hear  what  Eliza  Pinckney  says  in  her 
letters : 

"  I  have  got  no  further  than  the  first  volm  of  Virgil, 
but  was  most  agreeably  disappointed  to  find  myself 
instructed  in  agriculture  as  well  as  entertained  by  his 
charming  penn,  for  I  am  persuaded  tho'  he  wrote  for 
Italy  it  will  in  many  Instances  suit  Carolina."17  "  If 
you  will  not  laugh  too  immoderately  at  mee  I'll  Trust 
you  with  a  Secrett.  I  have  made  two  wills  already! 
I  know  I  have  done  no  harm,  for  I  con'd  my  lesson  very 
perfectly,  and  know  how  to  convey  by  will,  Estates,  Real 

17  Ravenel,  Eliza  Pinckney,  p.  50. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Education  81 

and  Personal,  and  never  forgett  in  its  proper  place,  him 
and  his  heirs  forever.  .  .  .  But  after  all  what  can  I  do 
if  a  poor  Creature  lies  a-dying,  and  their  family  takes  it 
into  their  head  that  I  can  serve  them.  I  can't  refuse; 
butt  when  they  are  well,  and  able  to  employ  a  Lawyer, 
I  always  shall."18 

And  again  she  gives  this  glimpse  of  another  study: 
"  I  am  a  very  Dunce,  for  I  have  not  acquired  ye  writing 
shorthand  yet  with  any  degree  of  swiftness."  That  she 
had  made  some  study  of  philosophy  also  is  evident  in 
this  comment  in  a  letter  written  after  a  prolonged  absence 
from  her  plantation  home  for  the  purpose  of  attending 
some  social  function:  "  I  began  to  consider  what  attrac 
tion  there  was  in  this  place  that  used  so  agreeably  to 
soothe  my  pensive  humour,  and  made  me  indifferent 
to  everything  the  gay  world  could  boast;  but  I  found  the 
change  not  in  the  place  but  in  myself.  .  .  .  and  I  was 
forced  to  consult  Mr.  Locke  over  and  over,  to  see  wherein 
personal  Identity  consisted,  and  if  I  was  the  very  same 
Selfe."19 

Locke's  philosophical  theory  is  surely  rather  solid 
material,  a  kind  indeed  which  probably  not  many  col 
lege  women  of  the  twentieth  century  are  familiar  with. 
Add  to  these  various  intellectual  pursuits  of  hers  the 
highly  thorough  study  she  made  of  agriculture,  her 
genuinely  scientific  experiments  in  the  rotation  and 
selection  of  crops,  and  her  practical  and  successful 
management  of  three  large  plantations,  and  we  may  well 
conclude  that  here  was  a  colonial  woman  with  a  mind  of 
her  own,  and  a  mind  fit  for  something  besides  feminine 
trifles  and  graces. 

18Ravenel:   Eliza  Pinckney,  p.  51. 
"  Ravenel:   Eliza  Pinckney,  p.  49. 


62  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

Jane  Turell,  a  resident  of  Boston  during  the  first  half 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  was  another  whose  interest 
in  literature  and  other  branches  of  higher  education  was 
certainly  not  common  to  the  women  of  the  period.  Hear 
the  narrative  of  the  rather  astonishing  list  of  studies  she 
undertook,  and  the  zeal  with  which  she  pursued  her 
research : 

"  Before  she  had  seen  eighteen,  she  had  read,  and 
*  in  some  measure  '  digested  all  the  English  poetry  and 
polite  pieces  in  prose,  printed  and  manuscripts,  in  her 
father's  well  furnished  library.  .  .  .  She  had  indeed 
such  a  thirst  after  knowledge  that  the  leisure  of  the 
day  did  not  suffice,  but  she  spent  whole  nights  in  read 
ing.  .  .  . 

"  I  find  she  was  sometimes  fired  with  a  laudable 
ambition  of  raising  the  honor  of  her  sex,  who  are  there 
fore  under  obligations  to  her;  and  all  will  be  ready  to 
own  she  had  a  fine  genius,  and  is  to  be  placed  among 
those  who  have  excelled. 

" .  .  .  What  greatly  contributed  to  increase  her 
knowledge,  in  divinity,  history,  physic,  controversy, 
as  well  as  poetry,  was  her  attentive  hearing  most  that  I 
read  upon  those  heads  through  the  long  evenings  of  the 
winters  as  we  sat  together."20 

Mrs.  Adams  was  still  another  example  of  that  rare 
womanliness  which  could  combine  with  practical  domes 
tic  ability  a  taste  for  high  intellectual  pursuits.  During 
the  Revolutionary  days  in  the  hour  of  deepest  anxiety 
for  the  welfare  of  her  husband  and  of  her  country,  she 
wrote  to  Mr.  Adams:  "  I  have  taken  a  great  fondness  for 
reading  Rollin's  Ancient  History  since  you  left  me.  I 

•8  Turell:   Memoirs  of  Life  and  Death  of  Mrs.  Jane  Turell. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Education  83 

am  determined  to  go  through  with  it,  if  possible,  in 
these  days  of  solitude."21  And  again  in  a  letter  written 
on  December  5,  1773,  to  Mercy  Warren,  she  says:  "  I 
send  with  this  the  first  volume  of  Molidre  and  should  be 
glad  of  your  opinion  of  the  plays.  I  cannot  be  brought 
to  like  them.  There  seems  to  me  to  be  a  general  want  of 
spirit.  At  the  close  of  every  one,  I  have  felt  disap 
pointed.  There  are  no  characters  but  what  appear 
unfinished;  and  he  seems  to  have  ridiculed  vice  without 
engaging  us  to  virtue.  .  .  .  There  is  one  negative  virtue 
of  which  he  is  possessed,  I  mean  that  of  decency.  .  .  . 
I  fear  I  shall  incur  the  charge  of  vanity  by  thus  criticis 
ing  an  author  who  has  met  with  so  much  applause.  .  .  . 
I  should  not  have  done  it,  if  we  had  not  conversed  about 
it  before."22 

Evidently,  at  least  a  few  of  those  colonial  dames  who 
are  popularly  supposed  to  have  stayed  at  home  and 
"  tended  their  knitting  "  were  interested  in  and  enthu 
siastically  conversed  about  some  rather  classic  authors 
and  rather  deep  questions.  Mrs.  Grant  has  told  us  of 
the  aunt  of  General  Philip  Schuyler,  a  woman  of  great 
force  of  character  and  magnetic  personality:  "  She  was  a 
great  manager  of  her  time  and  always  contrived  to  create 
leisure  hours  for  reading;  for  that  kind  of  conversation 
which  is  properly  styled  gossiping  she  had  the  utmost 
contempt.  .  .  .  Questions  in  religion  and  morality,  too 
weighty  for  table  talk,  were  leisurely  and  coolly  discussed 
[In  the  garden]."23 

Again,  Mrs.  Grant  pays  tribute  to  her  mental  ability 

41  Letters  of  Abigail  Adams,  p.  11. 

11  Letters  of  Abigail  Adams,  p.  9. 

l*  Grant:  Memoirs  of  an  American  Lady,  p.  136, 


84  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

as  well  as  to  her  intelligent  interest  in  vital  questions  of 
the  hour,  in  the  following  statement:  "  She  clearly 
foresaw  that  no  mode  of  taxation  could  be  invented  to 
which  they  would  easily  submit;  and  that  the  defense 
of  the  continent  from  enemies  and  keeping  the  necessary 
military  force  to  protect  the  weak  and  awe  the  turbulent 
would  be  a  perpetual  drain  of  men  and  money  to  Great 
Britain,  still  increasing  with  the  increased  population."24 
There  were  indeed  brilliant  minds  among  the  women 
of  colonial  days;  but  for  the  most  part  the  women  of  the 
period  were  content  with  a  rather  small  amount  of  intel 
lectual  training  and  did  not  seek  to  gain  that  leadership 
so  commonly  sought  by  women  of  the  twentieth  cen 
tury.  Practically  the  only  view  ahead  was  that  of  the 
home  and  domestic  life,  and  the  whole  tendency  of 
education  for  woman  was,  therefore,  toward  the  decid 
edly  practical. 

IV.     Practical  Education 

These  brilliant  women,  like  their  sisters  of  less  ability, 
had  no  radical  ideas  about  what  they  considered  should 
be  the  fundamental  principles  in  female  education; 
\they  one  and  all  stood  for  sound  training  in  domestic 
Wts  and  home  making.  Abigail  Adams,  whose  tact, 
thrift  and  genuine  womanliness  were  largely  responsible 
for  her  husband's  career,  expressed  herself  in  no  uncer 
tain  terms  concerning  the  duties  of  woman:  "  I  consider 
it  as  an  indispensable  requisite  that  every  American  wife 
should  herself  know  how  to  order  and  regulate  her 
family;  how  to  govern  her  domestics  and  train  up  her 
children.  For  this  purpose  the  All-wise  Creator  made 

**  Grant:   Memoirs  of  an  American  Lady,  p.  267. 


/I/I 

ftf 


Colonial  Woman  and  Education  85 

woman  an  help-meet  for  man  and  she  who  fails  in  these 
duties  does  not  answer  the  end  of  her  creation."25 

Indeed,  it  would  appear  that  most,  if  not  all,  of  the 
women  of  colonial  days  agreed  with  the  sentiment  of 
Ben  Franklin  who  spoke  with  warm  praise  of  a  printer's 
wife  who,  after  the  death  of  her  husband,  took  charge  of 
his  business  "  with  such  success  that  she  not  only  brought 
up  reputably  a  family  of  children,  but  at  the  expiration 
of  the  term  was  able  to  purchase  of  me  the  printing  house 
and  establish  her  son  in  it"26  And,  according  to  this 
practical  man,  her  success  was  due  largely  to  the  fact  that 
as  a  native  of  Holland  she  had  been  taught  "  the  knowl 
edge  of  accounts."  "  I  mention  this  affair  chiefly  for 
the  sake  of  recommending  that  branch  of  education  for 
our  young  females  as  likely  to  be  of  more  use  to  them  and 
their  children  in  case  of  widowhood  than  either  music  or 
dancing,  by  preserving  them  from  losses  by  imposition 
of  crafty  men,  and  enabling  them  to  continue  perhaps  a 
profitable  mercantile  house  with  established  correspond 
ence,  till  a  son  is  grown  up  fit  to  undertake  and  go  on 
with  it."27 

And  Mrs.  Franklin,  like  her  husband  and  Mrs.  Adams, 
had  no  doubt  of  the  necessity  of  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  household  duties  for  every  woman  who  expected  to 
marry.  In  1757  she  wrote  to  her  sister-in-law  in  regard 
to  the  proposed  marriage  of  her  nephew:  "  I  think  Miss 
Betsey  a  very  agreeable,  sweet-tempered,  good  girl 
who  has  had  a  housewifely  education,  and  will  make  to  a 
good  husband  a  very  good  wife." 

With  these  fundamentals  in  female  education  settled, 

*  Letters  of  Abigail  Adams,  p.  401. 

*  Smyth:    Writings  of  Franklin,  Vol.  I,  p.  344. 
"  Ibid,  Vol.  I.  p.  344. 


86  Woman*s  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

some  of  the  colonists,  at  least,  were  very  willing  that  the 
girls  should  learn  some  of  the  intellectual  "  frills  "  and 
fads  that  might  add  to  feminine  grace  or  possibly  be  of 
use  in  future  emergencies.  Franklin,  for  instance, 
seemed  anxious  that  Sally  should  learn  her  French  and 
music.  Writing  to  his  wife  in  1758,  he  stated:  "  I 
hope  Sally  applies  herself  closely  to  her  French  and 
musick,  and  that  I  shall  find  she  has  made  great  Profi 
ciency.  Sally's  last  letter  to  her  Brother  is  the  best 
wrote  that  of  late  I  have  seen  of  hers.  I  only  wish  she 
was  a  little  more  careful  of  her  spelling.  I  hope  she 
continues  to  love  going  to  Church,  and  would  have  her 
read  over  and  over  again  the  Whole  Duty  of  Man  and 
the  Lady's  Library."28  And  again  in  1772  we  find  him 
writing  this  advice  to  Sally  after  her  marriage  to  Mr. 
Bache:  "  I  have  advis'd  him  to  settle  down  to  Business 
in  Philadelphia  where  he  will  always  be  with  you  .  .  . 
and  I  think  that  in  keeping  a  Store,  if  it  be  where  you 
dwell,  you  can  be  serviceable  as  your  mother  was  to  me. 
For  you  are  not  deficient  in  Capacity  and  I  hope  are  not 
too  proud.  .  .  .  You  might  easily  learn  Accounts  and 
you  can  copy  Letters,  or  write  them  very  well  upon 
Occasion.  By  Industry  and  Frugality  you  may  get 
forward  in  the  World,  being  both  of  you  yet  young."29 


V.     Educational  Frills 

Toward  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  that 
once-popular  institution,  the  boarding  school  for  girls, 
became  firmly  established,  and  many  were  the  young 

«  Smyth:  Vol.  Ill,  p.  431. 
«  Smyth,  Vol.  V,  p.  345. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Education  87 

"  females  "  who  suffered  as  did  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes' 
dear  old  aunt: 

"  They  braced  my  aunt  against  a  board, 

To  make  her  straight  and  tall; 
They  laced  her  up,  they  starved  her  down, 

To  make  her  light  and  small; 
They  pinched  her  feet,  they  singed  her  hair, 

They  screwed  it  up  with  pins;  — 
Oh,  never  mortal  suffered  more 

In  penance  for  her  sins." 

One  of  the  best  known  of  these  seminaries  was  that 
conducted  by  Susanna  Rowson,  author  of  the  once- 
famous  novel  Charlotte  Temple.  A  letter  from  a  colonial 
miss  of  fourteen  years,  Eliza  Southgate,  who  attended 
this  school,  may  be  enlightening: 

"Hon.  Father: 

"  I  am  again  placed  at  school  under  the  tuition  of  an 
amiable  lady,  so  mild,  so  good,  no  one  can  help  loving 
her;  she  treats  all  her  scholars  with  such  tenderness  as 
would  win  the  affection  of  the  most  savage  brute.  I 
learn  Embroiderey  and  Geography  at  present,  and  wish 
your  permission  to  learn  Musick.  ...  I  have  described 
one  of  the  blessings  of  creation  in  Mrs.  Rowson,  and  now 
I  will  describe  Mrs.  Lyman  as  the  reverse:  she  is  the  worst 
woman  I  ever  knew  of  or  that  I  ever  saw,  nobody  knows 
what  I  suffered  from  the  treatment  of  that  woman."30 

The  Moravian  seminaries  of  Bethlehem,  Pennsyl 
vania,  and  of  North  Carolina  were  highly  popular 
training  places  for  girls;  for  in  these  orderly  institutions 
the  students  were  sure  to  gain  not  only  instruction  in 
graceful  social  accomplishments  and  a  thorough  knowl- 

19  Quoted  in  Earle's  Child  Life  in  Colonial  Days,  p.  113. 


88  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

edge  of  housekeeping,  but  the  rare  habit  of  doing  all 
things  with  regularity,  neatness,  decorum,  and  quiet 
ness.  The  writer  of  the  above  letter  has  also  described 
one  of  these  Pennsylvania  schools  with  its  prim  teachers 
and  commendable  mingling  of  the  practical  and  the 
artistic.  "  The  first  was  merely  a  sewing  school,  little 
children  and  a  pretty  single  spinster  about  30,  her  white 
skirt,  white  short  tight  waistcoat,  nice  handkerchief 
pinned  outside,  a  muslin  apron  and  a  close  cap,  of  the 
most  singular  form  you  can  imagine.  I  can't  describe 
it.  The  hair  is  all  put  out  of  sight,  turned  back,  and  no 
border  to  the  cap,  very  unbecoming  and  very  singular, 
tied  under  the  chin  with  a  pink  ribbon  —  blue  for  the 
married,  white  for  the  widows.  Here  was  a  Piano  forte 
and  another  sister  teaching  a  little  girl  music.  We  went 
thro'  all  the  different  school  rooms,  some  misses  of  six 
teen,  their  teachers  were  very  agreeable  and  easy,  and 
in  every  room  was  a  Piano." 

It  was  a  notable  fact  that  dancing  was  taught  in  nearly 
all  of  these  institutes.  In  spite  of  Puritanical  training, 
in  spite  of  the  thunder-bolts  of  colonial  preachers,  the 
tide  of  public  opinion  could  not  be  stayed,  and  the  girls 
would  learn  the  waltz  and  the  prim  minuet.  Times  had 
indeed  changed  since  the  day  when  Cotton  Mather  so 
sternly  spoke  his  opinion  on  such  an  ungodly  perform 
ance:  "  Who  were  the  Inventors  of  Petulant  Danc 
ings?  Learned  men  have  well  observed  that  the  Devil 
was  the  First  Inventor  of  the  impleaded  Dances,  and 
the  Gentiles  who  worshipped  him  the  first  Practitioners 
of  this  Art." 

Colonial  school  girls  may  have  been  meek  and  lowly 
in  the  seventeenth  century  —  the  words  of  Winthrop 


Colonial  Woman  and  Education  89 

and  the  Mathers  rather  indicate  that  they  were  —  but 
not  so  in  the  eighteenth.  Some  of  them  showed  an 
independence  of  spirit  not  at  all  agreeing  with  popular 
ideas  of  the  demure  maid  of  olden  days.  Sarah  Hall, 
for  instance,  whose  parents  lived  in  Barbadoes,  was  sent 
to  her  grandmother,  Madam  Coleman  of  Boston,  to 
attend  school.  She  arrived  with  her  maid  in  1719  and 
soon  scandalized  her  stately  grandmother  by  abruptly 
leaving  the  house  and  engaging  board  and  lodging  at  a 
neighboring  residence.  At  her  brother's  command  she 
returned ;  but  even  a  brother's  authority  failed  to  control 
the  spirited  young  lady;  for  a  few  months  after  the 
episode  Madam  Coleman  wrote:  "  Sally  won't  go  to 
school  nor  to  church  and  wants  a  nue  muff  and  a  great 
many  other  things  she  don't  need.  I  tell  her  fine  things 
are  cheaper  in  Barbadoes.  She  says  she  will  go  to 
Barbadoes  in  the  Spring.  She  is  well  and  brisk,  says 
her  Brother  has  nothing  to  do  with  her  as  long  as  her 
father  is  alive."  The  same  lady  informs  us  that  Sally's 
instruction  in  writing  cost  one  pound,  seven  shillings, 
and  four  pence,  the  entrance  fee  for  dancing  lessons, 
one  pound,  and  the  bill  for  dancing  lessons  for  four 
months,  two  pounds.  No  doubt  it  was  worth  the 
price;  for  later  Sally  became  rather  a  dashing  society 
belle. 

One  thing  always  emphasized  in  the  training  of  the 
colonial  girl  was  manners  or  etiquette  —  the  art  of  being 
a  charming  hostess.  As  Mrs.  Earle  says,  "  It  is  impos 
sible  to  overestimate  the  value  these  laws  of  etiquette, 
these  conventions  of  custom  had  at  a  time,  when  neigh 
borhood  life  was  the  whole  outside  world."  How  many, 
many  a  "  don't  "  the  colonial  miss  had  dinned  into  her 


90  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

ears!  Hear  but  a  few  of  them:  "  Never  sit  down  at  the 
table  till  asked,  and  after  the  blessing.  Ask  for  nothing ; 
tarry  till  it  be  offered  thee.  Speak  not.  Bite  not  thy 
bread  but  break  it.  Take  salt  only  with  a  clean  knife. 
Dip  not  the  meat  in  the  same.  Hold  not  thy  knife 
upright  but  sloping,  and  lay  it  down  at  the  right  hand 
of  plate  with  blade  on  plate.  Look  not  earnestly  at 
any  other  that  is  eating.  When  moderately  satisfied 
leave  the  table.  Sing  not,  hum  not,  wriggle  not.  .  .  . 
Smell  not  of  thy  Meat;  make  not  a  noise  with  thy 
Tongue,  Mouth,  Lips,  or  Breath  in  Thy  Eating  and 
Drinking.  .  .  .  When  any  speak  to  thee,  stand  up. 
Say  not  I  have  heard  it  before.  Never  endeavour  to 
help  him  out  if  he  tell  it  not  right.  Snigger  not;  never 
question  the  Truth  of  it." 

Girls  were  early  taught  these  forms,  and  in  addition 
received  not  only  advice  but  mechanical  aid  to  insure 
their  standing  erect  and  sitting  upright.  The  average 
child  of  to-day  would  rebel  most  vigorously  against  such 
contrivances,  and  justly;  for  in  a  few  American  schools, 
as  in  English  institutions,  young  ladies  were  literally 
tortured  through  sitting  in  stocks,  being  strapped  to 
back-boards,  and  wearing  stiffened  coats  and  stays 
re-inforced  with  strips  of  wood  and  metal.  Such  methods 
undoubtedly  made  the  colonial  dame  erect  and  perhaps 
stately  in  appearance,  but  they  contributed  a  certain 
artificial,  thin-chested  structure  that  the  healthy  girl  of 
to-day  would  abhor. 

As  we  have  seen,  however,  some  women  of  the  day 
contrived  to  pick  up  unusual  bits  of  knowledge,  or  made 
surprising  expeditions  into  the  realm  of  literature  and 
philosophy.  Samuel  Peters,  writing  in  his  General 


Colonial  Woman  and  Education  91 

History  of  Connecticut  in  1781,  declared  of  their  accom 
plishments:  "  The  women  of  Connecticut  are  strictly 
virtuous  and  to  be  compared  to  the  prude  rather  than  the 
European  polite  lady.  They  are  not  permitted  to  read 
plays;  cannot  converse  about  whist,  quadrille  or  operas; 
but  will  freely  talk  upon  the  subjects  of  history,  geog 
raphy,  and  mathematics.  They  are  great  casuists  and 
polemical  divines;  and  I  have  known  not  a  few  of  them 
so  well  schooled  in  Greek  and  Latin  as  often  to  put  to  the 
blush  learned  gentlemen."  And  yet  Hannah  Adams, 
writing  in  her  Memoir  in  1832,  had  this  to  say  of  educa 
tional  opportunities  in  Connecticut  during  the  latter  half 
of  the  eighteenth  century:  "  My  health  did  not  even 
admit  of  attending  school  with  the  children  in  the 
neighborhood  where  I  resided.  The  country  schools, 
at  that  time,  were  kept  but  a  few  months  in  the  year,  and 
all  that  was  then  taught  in  them  was  reading,  writing, 
and  arithmetic.  In  the  summer,  the  children  were 
instructed  by  females  in  reading,  sewing,  and  other  kinds 
of  work.  The  books  chiefly  made  use  of  were  the  Bible 
and  Psalter.  Those  who  have  had  the  advantages  of 
receiving  the  rudiments  of  their  education  at  the  schools 
of  the  present  day,  can  scarcely  form  an  adequate  idea  of 
the  contrast  between  them,  and  those  of  an  earlier  age; 
and  of  the  great  improvements  which  have  been  made 
even  in  the  common  country  schools.  The  disadvan 
tages  of  my  early  education  I  have  experienced  during 
life;  and,  among  various  others,  the  acquiring  of  a  very 
faulty  pronunciation;  a  habit  contracted  so  early,  that 
I  cannot  wholly  rectify  it  in  later  years." 

North  and  South  women  complained  of  the  lack  of 
educational   advantages.     Madame    Schuyler   deplored 


92  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

the  scarcity  of  books  and  of  facilities  for  womanly  educa 
tion,  and  spoke  with  irony  of  the  literary  tastes  of  the 
older  ladies:  "  Shakespeare  was  a  questionable  author 
at  the  Flatts,  where  the  plays  were  considered  grossly 
familiar,  and  by  no  means  to  be  compared  to  '  Cato  ' 
which  Madame  Schuyler  greatly  admired.  The  '  Essay 
on  Man  '  was  also  in  high  esteem  with  this  lady."31 
Many  women  of  the  day  realized  their  lack  of  systematic 
training,  and  keenly  regretted  the  absence  of  opportunity 
to  obtain  it.  Abigail  Adams,  writing  to  her  husband  on 
the  subject,  says,  "  If  you  complain  of  education  in 
sons  what  shall  I  say  of  daughters  who  every  day  experi 
ence  the  want  of  it?  With  regard  to  the  education  of  my 
own  children  I  feel  myself  soon  out  of  my  depth,  destitute 
in  every  part  of  education.  I  most  sincerely  wish  that 
some  more  liberal  plan  might  be  laid  and  executed  for  the 
benefit  of  the  rising  generation  and  that  our  new  Con 
stitution  may  be  distinguished  for  encouraging  learning 
and  virtue.  If  we  mean  to  have  heroes,  statesmen,  and 
philosophers,  we  should  have  learned  women.  The  world 
perhaps  would  laugh  at  me,  but  you,  I  know,  have  a 
mind  too  enlarged  and  liberal  to  disregard  sentiment. 
If  as  much  depends  as  is  allowed  upon  the  early  educa 
tion  of  youth  and  the  first  principles  which  are  instilled 
take  the  deepest  root  great  benefit  must  arise  from  the 
literary  accomplishments  in  women."32 

And  again,  Hannah  Adams'  Memoir  of  1832  expresses 
in  the  following  words  the  intellectual  hunger  of  the 
Colonial  woman:  "  I  was  very  desirous  of  learning  the 
rudiments  of  Latin,  Greek,  geography,  and  logic.  Some 

"Humphreys:   Catherine  Schuyler,  p.  75. 

•*  Brooks:  Dames  and  Daughters  of  Colonial  Dayt,  p.  199. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Education  93 

gentlemen  who  boarded  at  my  father's  offered  to  instruct 
me  in  these  branches  of  learning  gratis,  and  I  pursued 
these  studies  with  indescribable  pleasure  and  avidity. 
I  still,  however,  sensibly  felt  the  want  of  a  more  system 
atic  education,  and  those  advantages  which  females 
enjoy  in  the  present  day.  .  .  .  My  reading  was  very 
desultory,  and  novels  engaged  too  much  of  my 
attention." 

After  all,  it  would  seem  that  fancy  sewing  was  con 
sidered  far  more  requisite  than  science  and  literature 
in  the  training  of  American  girls  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  As  soon  as  the  little  maid  was  able  to  hold  a 
needle  she  was  taught  to  knit,  and  at  the  age  of  four 
or  five  commonly  made  excellent  mittens  and  stockings. 
A  girl  of  fourteen  made  in  1760  a  pair  of  silk  stockings 
with  open  work  design  and  with  initials  knitted  on  the 
instep,  and  every  stage  of  the  work  from  the  raising  and 
winding  of  the  silk  to  the  designing  and  spinning  was 
done  by  one  so  young.  Girls  began  to  make  samplers 
almost  before  they  could  read  their  letters,  and  wonder 
ful  were  the  birds  and  animals  and  scenes  depicted  in 
embroidery  by  mere  children.  An  advertisement  of  the 
day  is  significant  of  the  admiration  held  for  such  a  form 
of  decorative  work:  "  Martha  Gazley,  late  from  Great 
Britain,  now  in  the  city  of  New  York  Makes  and  Teach- 
eth  the  following  curious  Works,  viz.:  Artificial  Fruit 
and  Flowers  and  other  Wax-works,  Nuns-work,  Philigre 
and  Pencil  Work  upon  Muslin,  all  sorts  of  Needle- Work, 
and  Raising  of  Paste,  as  also  to  paint  upon  Glass,  and 
Transparant  for  Sconces,  with  other  Works.  If  any 
young  Gentlewomen,  or  others  are  inclined  to  learn  any 
or  all  of  the  above-mentioned  curious  Works,  they  may 


94  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

be  carefully  instructed  in  the  same  by  said  Martha 
Gazley."  s 

Thus  the  evidence  leads  us  to  believe  that  a  colonial 
woman's  education  consisted  in  the  main  of  training  in 
how  to  conduct  and  care  for  a  home.  It  was  her  princi 
pal  business  in  life  and  for  it  she  certainly  was  well 
prepared.  In  the  seventeenth  century  girls  attended 
either  a  short  term  public  school  or  a  dame's  school,  or, 
as  among  the  better  families  in  the  South,  were  taught  by 
private  tutors.  In  the  eighteenth  century  they  fre 
quently  attended  boarding  schools  or  female  seminaries, 
and  here  learned  —  at  least  in  the  middle  colonies  and 
the  South — not  only  reading  and  writing  and  arithmetic, 
but  dancing,  music,  drawing,  French,  and  "  manners." 
In  Virginia  and  New  York,  as  we  have  seen,  illiteracy 
among  seventeenth  century  women  was  astonishingly 
common;  but  in  the  eighteenth  century  those  above  the 
lowest  classes  in  all  three  sections  could  at  least  read, 
write,  and  keep  accounts,  and  some  few  had  dared  to 
reach  out  into  the  sphere  of  higher  learning.  That  many 
realized  their  intellectual  poverty  and  deplored  it  is 
evident;  how  many  more  who  kept  no  diaries  and  left 
no  letters  hungered  for  culture  we  shall  never  know; 
but  the  very  longing  of  these  colonial  women  is  probably 
one  of  the  main  causes  of  that  remarkable  movement  for 
the  higher  education  of  American  women  so  noticeable 
in  the  earlier  years  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Their 
smothered  ambition  undoubtedly  gave  birth  to  an  intel 
lectual  advance  of  women  unequalled  elsewhere  in  the 
world. 


CHAPTER  III 
COLONIAL  WOMAN  AND  THE  HOME 

/.  The  Charm  of  the  Colonial  Home 
After  all,  it  is  in  the  home  that  the  soul  of  the  colonial 
woman  is  fully  revealed.  We  may  say  in  all  truthful 
ness  that  there  never  was  a  time  when  the  home  wielded 
a  greater  influence  than  during  the  colonial  period  of 
American  history.  For  the  home  was  then  indeed  the 
center  and  heart  of  social  life.  There  were  no  men's 
clubs,  no  women's  societies,  no  theatres,  no  moving 
pictures,  no  suffrage  meetings,  none  of  the  hundred  and 
one  exterior  activities  that  now  call  forth  both  father 
and  mother  from  the  home  circle.  The  home  of  pre- 
revolutionary  days  was  far  more  than  a  place  where  the 
family  ate  and  slept.  Its  simplicity,  its  confidence,  its 
air  of  security  and  permanence,  and  its  atmosphere  of 
refuge  or  haven  of  rest  are  characteristics  to  be  grasped 
in  their  true  significance  only  through  a  thorough  read 
ing  of  the  writings  of  those  early  days.  The  colonial 
woman  had  never  received  a  diploma  in  domestic  science 
or  home  economics;  she  had  never  heard  of  balanced 
diets;  she  had  never  been  taught  the  arrangement  of 
color  schemes;  but  she  knew  the  secret  of  making  from 
four  bare  walls  the  sacred  institution  with  all  its  subtle 
meanings  comprehended  under  the  one  word,  home. 

All  home-life,  of  course,  was  not  ideal.     There  were 
idle,   slovenly  women,   mis-guided  female   fanatics,   as 


96  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

there  are  to-day.  Too  often  in  considering  the  men 
and  women  who  made  colonial  history  we  are  liable  to 
think  that  all  were  of  the  stamp  of  Winthrop,  Brad 
ford,  Sewall,  Adams,  and  Washington.  Instead,  they 
were  people  like  the  readers  of  this  book,  neither  saints 
nor  depraved  sinners.  In  later  chapters  we  shall  see 
that  many  broke  the  laws  of  man  and  God,  enforced 
cruel  penalties  on  their  brothers  and  sisters,  frequently 
disobeyed  the  ten  commandments,  and  balanced  their 
charity  with  malice.  Then,  too,  there  was  an  ungentle, 
rough,  coarse  element  in  the  under-strata  of  society  — 
an  element  accentuated  under  the  uncouth  pioneer 
conditions.  But,  in  the  main,  we  may  believe  that  the 
great  majority  of  citizens  of  New  England,  the  sub 
stantial  traders  and  merchants  of  the  middle  colonies, 
and  the  planters  of  the  South,  were  law-abiding,  God 
fearing  people  who  believed  in  the  sanctity  of  their 
homes  and  cherished  them.  We  shall  see  that  these 
homes  were  well  worth  cherishing. 

II.  Domestic  Love  and  Confidence 
In  this  discussion  of  the  colonial  home,  as  in  previous 
discussions,  we  must  depend  for  information  far  more 
upon  the  writings  by  men  than  upon  those  by  women. 
Yet,  here  and  there,  in  the  diaries  and  letters  of  wives 
and  mothers  we  catch  glimpses  of  what  the  institution 
meant  to  women  —  glimpses  of  that  deep,  abiding  love 
and  faith  that  have  made  the  home  a  favorite  theme  of 
song  and  story.  In  the  correspondence  between  hus 
band  and  wife  we  have  conclusive  evidence  that  woman 
was  held  in  high  respect,  her  advice  often  asked,  and  her 
influence  marked.  The  letters  of  Governor  Winthrop 


Colonial  Woman  and  the  Home  97 

to  his  wife  Margaret  might  be  offered  as  striking  illustra 
tions  of  the  confidence,  sympathy,  and  love  existing  in 
colonial  home  life.  Thus,  he  writes  from  England: 
"  My  Dear  Wife:  Commend  my  Love  to  them  all. 
I  kisse  &  embrace  thee,  my  deare  wife,  &  all  my  children, 
&  leave  thee  in  His  armes  who  is  able  to  preserve  you 
all,  &  to  fulfill  our  joye  in  our  happye  meeting  in  His 
good  time.  Amen.  Thy  faithfull  husband."  And 
again  just  before  leaving  England  he  writes  to  her: 
"  I  must  begin  now  to  prepare  thee  for  our  long  parting 
which  growes  very  near.  I  know  not  how  to  deal  with 
thee  by  arguments;  for  if  thou  wert  as  wise  and 
patient  as  ever  woman  was,  yet  it  must  needs  be  a  great 
trial  to  thee,  and  the  greater  because  I  am  so  dear  to 
thee.  That  which  I  must  chiefly  look  at  in  thee  for  thy 
ground  of  contentment  is  thy  godliness." 

Nor  were  the  wife's  replies  less  warm  and  affectionate. 
Hear  this  bit  from  a  letter  of  three  centuries  ago:  "  MY 
MOST  SWEET  HUSBAND:  — How  dearely  welcome 
thy  kinde  letter  was  to  me  I  am  not  able  to  expresse. 
The  sweetnesse  of  it  did  much  refresh  me.  What  can  be 
more  pleasinge  to  a  wife,  than  to  heare  of  the  welfayre 
of  her  best  beloved,  and  how  he  is  pleased  with  hir  pore 
endevours.  ...  I  wish  that  I  may  be  all-wayes  pleas 
inge  to  thee,  and  that  those  comforts  we  have  in  each 
other  may  be  dayly  increced  as  far  as  they  be  pleasinge 
to  God.  ...  I  will  doe  any  service  whearein  I  may 
please  my  good  Husband.  I  confess  I  cannot  doe 
ynough  for  thee.  .  .  ." 

Is  it  not  evident  that  passionate,  reverent  love, 
amounting  almost  to  adoration,  was  fairly  common  in 
those  early  days?  Numerous  other  writings  of  the 


98  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

colonial  period  could  add  their  testimony.  Sometimes 
the  proof  is  in  the  letters  of  men  longing  for  home  and 
i family;  sometimes  in  the  messages  of  the  wife  longing 
lor  the  return  of  her  "  goodman  ";  sometimes  it  is  dis 
cerned  in  bits  of  verse,  such  as  those  by  Ann  Bradstreet, 
or  in  an  enthusiastic  description  of  a  woman,  such  as 
that  by  Jonathan  Edwards  about  his  future  wife.  Note 
the  fervor  of  this  famous  eulogy  by  the  "  coldly  logical  " 
Edwards;  can  it  be  excelled  in  genuine  warmth  by  the 
love  letters  of  famous  men  in  later  days? 

"  They  say  there  is  a  young  lady  in  New  Haven  who 
is  beloved  of  that  Great  Being,  who  made  and  rules  the 
world,  and  that  there  are  certain  seasons  in  which  this 
Great  Being,  in  some  way  or  other  invisible,  comes  to 
her  and  fills  her  mind  with  exceeding  sweet  delight  and 
that  she  hardly  cares  for  anything,  except  to  meditate 
on  him  —  that  she  expects  after  a  while  to  be  received 
up  where  he  is,  to  be  raised  up  out  of  the  world  and  caught 
up  into  heaven;  being  assured  that  he  loves  her  too  well 
to  let  her  remain  at  a  distance  from  him  always.  .  .  . 
Therefore,  if  you  present  all  the  world  before  her,  with 
the  richest  of  its  treasures,  she  disregards  it  and  cares 
not  for  it,  and  is  unmindful  of  any  pain  or  affliction. 
She  has  a  strange  sweetness  in  her  mind  and  singular 
purity  in  her  affections;  is  most  just  and  conscientious  in 
all  her  conduct;  and  you  could  not  persuade  her  to  do 
anything  wrong  or  sinful,  if  you  would  give  her  all  the 
world,  lest  she  offend  this  Great  Being.  She  is  of  a 
wonderful  sweetness,  calmness  and  universal  benevo 
lence  of  mind.  .  .  .  She  will  sometimes  go  about  from 
place  to  place,  singing  sweetly;  and  seems  to  be  always 
full  of  joy  and  pleasure.  .  .  .  She  loves  to  be  alone, 


Colonial  Woman  and  the  Home  99 

walking  in  the  fields  and  groves,  and  seems  to  have  some 
one  invisible  always  conversing  with  her." 

In  several  poems  Ann  Bradstreet,  daughter  of  Gov. 
Thomas  Dudley,  and  wife  of  Simon  Bradstreet,  mother  of 
eight  children,  and  first  of  the  women  poets  of  America, 
expressed  rather  ardently  for  a  Puritan  dame,  her  love 
for  her  husband.  Thus: 

"  I  crave  this  boon,  this  errand  by  the  way: 
Commend  me  to  the  man  more  lov'd  than  life, 
Show  him  the  sorrows  of  his  widow'd  wife, 

My  sobs,  my  longing  hopes,  my  doubting  fears, 
And,  if  he  love,  how  can  he  there  abide? 

Again,  we  note  the  following: 

"  If  ever  two  were  one,  then  surely  we; 
If  ever  man  were  loved  by  wife,  then  thee; 
If  ever  wife  was  happy  in  a  man, 
Compare  with  me,  ye  women,  if  you  can."1 

"  I  prize  thy  love  more  than  whole  mines  of  gold, 
Or  all  the  riches  that  the  East  doth  hold, 
My  love  is  such  that  rivers  cannot  quench, 
Nor  aught  but  love  from  thee  give  recompense. 
My  love  is  such  I  can  no  way  repay; 
The  heavens  reward  thee  manifold,  I  pray, 
Then  while  we  live  in  love  let's  persevere, 
That  when  we  live  no  more  we  may  live  ever." 

The  letters  of  Abigail  Adams  to  her  husband  might  be 
offered  as  further  evidence  of  the  affectionate  relation 
ships  existing  between  man  and  wife  in  colonial  days. 
Our  text  books  on  history  so  often  leave  the  impression 
that  the  fear  of  God  utterly  prevented  the  colonial  home 
from  being  a  place  of  confident  love;  but  it  is  possible 

1  Several  Poems  Compiled  with  Great  Variety  of  Wit  and  Learning,  1678. 


100  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

that  the  social  restraints  imposed  by  the  church  outside 
the  home  reacted  in  such  a  manner  as  to  compel  men 
and  women  to  express  more  fervently  the  affections 
otherwise  repressed.  When  we  read  such  lines  as  the 
following  in  Mrs.  Adams'  correspondence,  we  may 
conjecture  that  the  years  of  necessary  separation  from 
her  husband  during  the  Revolutionary  days,  must 
have  meant  as  much  of  longing  and  pain  as  a  similar 
separation  would  mean  to  a  modern  wife : 

"  My  dearest  Friend: 

"  .  .  .  I  hope  soon  to  receive  the  dearest  of  friends,  and 
the  tenderest  of  husbands,  with  that  unabated  affection 
which  has  for  years  past,  and  will  whilst  the  vital  spark 
lasts,  burn  in  the  bosom  of  your  affectionate 

A.  Adams." 

"  Boston,  25  October,  1777.  .  .  .  This  day,  dearest 
of  friends,  completes  thirteen  years  since  we  were 
solemnly  united  in  wedlock.  Three  years  of  this  time 
we  have  been  cruelly  separated.  I  have  patiently  as  I 
could,  endured  it,  with  the  belief  that  you  were  serving 
your  country.  ..." 

"  May  18,  1778.  .  .  .  Beneath  my  humble  roof, 
blessed  with  the  society  and  tenderest  affection  of  my 
dear  partner,  I  have  enjoyed  as  much  felicity  and  as 
exquisite  happiness,  as  falls  to  the  share  of  mortals.  .  .  ."2 

And  read  these  snatches  from  the  correspondence  of 
James  and  Mercy  Warren.  Writing  to  Mercy,  in  1775, 
the  husband  says:  "  I  long  to  see  you.  I  long  to  sit 
with  you  under  our  Vines  &  have  none  to  make  us 
afraid.  ...  I  intend  to  fly  Home  I  mean  as  soon  as 
Prudence,  Duty  &  Honor  will  permitt."  Again,  in 

»  Letters  of  A.  Adams,  pp.  10,  89,  93. 


Colonial  Woman  and  the  Home  101 

1780,  he  writes:  "MY  DEAR  MERCY:  .  .  .  When 
shall  I  hear  from  you?  My  affection  is  strong,  my  anxie 
ties  are  many  about  you.  You  are  alone.  ...  If  you 
are  not  well  &  happy,  how  can  I  be  so?  "3  Her  loving 
solicitude  for  his  welfare  is  equally  evident  in  her  reply 
of  December  30,  1777:  "Oh!  these  painful  absences. 
Ten  thousand  anxieties  invade  my  Bosom  on  your 
account  &  some  times  hold  my  lids  waking  many  hours 
of  the  Cold  &  Lonely  Night."4 

Those  heroic  days  tried  the  soul  of  many  a  wife  who 
held  the  home  together  amidst  privation  and  anguish, 
while  the  husband  battled  for  the  homeland.  From  the 
trenches  as  well  as  from  the  congressional  hall  came 
many  a  letter  fully  as  tender,  if  not  so  stately,  as  that 
written  by  George  Washington  after  accepting  the 
appointment  as  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Continental 
Army: 

"MY  DEAREST:-  .  .  .  You  may  believe  me, 
my  dear  Patsy,  when  I  assure  you,  in  the  most  solemn 
manner,  that,  so  far  from  seeking  this  appointment,  I 
have  used  every  endeavor  in  my  power  to  avoid  it,  not 
only  from  my  unwillingness  to  part  with  you  and  the 
family,  but  from  a  consciousness  of  its  being  a  trust  too 
great  for  my  capacity,  and  that  I  should  enjoy  more  real 
happiness  in  one  month  with  you  at  home  than  I  have 
the  most  distant  prospect  of  finding  abroad,  if  my  stay 
were  to  be  seven  times  seven  years.  .  .  .  My  unhappi- 
ness  will  flow  from  the  uneasiness  you  will  feel  from 
being  left  alone.7'6 

Even  the  calm  and  matter-of-fact  Franklin  does  not 

•Brown:    Mercy  Warren,  pp.  73,  95. 
«  Brown:    Mercy  Warren,  p.  98. 
*Wharton:    Martha  Washington,  p.  85. 


102  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

fail  to  express  his  affection  for  wife  and  home;  for, 
writing  to  his  close  friend,  Miss  Ray,  on  March  4,  1755, 
he  describes  his  longing  in  these  words:  "  I  began  to 
think  of  and  wish  for  home,  and,  as  I  drew  nearer,  I 
found  the  attraction  stronger  and  stronger.  My  dili 
gence  and  speed  increased  with  my  impatience.  I  drove 
on  violently,  and  made  such  long  stretches  that  a  very 
few  days  brought  me  to  my  own  house,  and  to  the  arms 
of  my  good  old  wife  and  children,  where  I  remain, 
thanks  to  God,  at  present  well  and  happy."6 

And  sprightly  Eliza  Pinckney  expresses  her  admira 
tion  for  her  husband  with  her  characteristic  frankness, 
when  she  writes:  "I  am  married,  and  the  gentleman 
I  have  made  choice  of  comes  up  to  my  plan  in  every 
title."  Years  later,  after  his  death,  she  writes  with  the 
same  frankness  to  her  mother:  "  I  was  for  more  than  14 
years  the  happiest  mortal  upon  Earth!  Heaven  had 
blessed  me  beyond  the  lott  of  Mortals  &  left  me  nothing 
to  wish  for.  ...  I  had  not  a  desire  beyond  him."7 

If  the  letters  and  other  writings  describing  home  life 
in  those  old  days  may  be  accepted  as  true,  it  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  that  husbands  longed  so  intensely  to  rejoin 
the  domestic  circle.  The  atmosphere  of  the  colonial 
household  will  be  more  minutely  described  when  we 
come  to  consider  the  social  life  of  the  women  of  the 
times;  but  at  this  point  we  may  well  hear  a  few  descrip 
tions  of  the  quaint  and  thoroughly  lovable  homes  of  our 
forefathers.  William  Byrd,  the  Virginia  scholar,  states 
man,  and  wit,  tells  in  some  detail  of  the  home  of  Colonel 
Spotswood,  which  he  visited  in  1732: 

•  Smyth:    Writings  of  B.  Franklin,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  245. 
^  Ravenel:   Eliza  Pinckney,  pp.  93,  175. 


Colonial  Woman  and  the  Home  103 

"  In  the  Evening  the  noble  Colo,  came  home  from  his 
Mines,  who  saluted  me  very  civily,  and  Mrs.  Spots- 
wood's  Sister,  Miss  Theky,  who  had  been  to  meet  him 
en  Cavalier,  was  so  kind  too  as  to  bid  me  welcome. 
We  talkt  over  a  Legend  of  old  Storys,  supp'd  about  9 
and  then  prattPd  with  the  Ladys,  til  twas  time  for  a 
Travellour  to  retire.  In  the  meantime  I  observ'd  my 
old  Friend  to  be  very  Uxorious,  and  exceedingly  fond 
of  his  Children.  This  was  so  opposite  to  the  Maxims 
he  us'd  to  preach  up  before  he  was  marry'd,  that  I 
cou'd  not  forbear  rubbing  up  the  Memory  of  them. 
But  he  gave  a  very  good-natur'd  turn  to  his  Change  of 
Sentiments,  by  alleging  that  who  ever  brings  a  poor 
Gentlewoman  into  so  solitary  a  place,  from  all  her 
Friends  and  acquaintance,  wou'd  be  ungrateful  not  to 
use  her  and  all  that  belongs  to  her  with  all  possible 
Tenderness. 

"  .  .  .  At  Nine  we  met  over  a  Pot  of  Coffee,  which 
was  not  quite  strong  enough  to  give  us  the  Palsy.  After 
Breakfast  the  Colo,  and  I  left  the  Ladys  to  their  Domes- 
tick  Affairs.  .  .  .  Dinner  was  both  elegant  and  plenti- 
full.  The  afternoon  was  devoted  to  the  Ladys,  who 
shew'd  me  one  of  their  most  beautiful  Walks.  They 
conducted  me  thro'  a  Shady  Lane  to  the  Landing,  and 
by  the  way  made  me  drink  some  very  fine  Water 
that  issued  from  a  Marble  Fountain,  and  ran  inces 
santly.  Just  behind  it  was  a  cover'd  Bench,  where 
Miss  Theky  often  sat  and  bewail'd  her  fate  as  an  un 
married  woman. 

"  .  .  .  In  the  afternoon  the  Ladys  walkt  me  about 
amongst  all  their  little  Animals,  with  which  they  amuse 
themselves,  and  furnish  the  Table.  .  .  .  Our  Ladys 


104  Woman9 s  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

overslept  themselves  this  Morning,  so  that  we  did  not 
break  our  Fast  till  Ten."8 

We  are  so  accustomed  to  look  upon  George  Washing 
ton  as  a  godlike  man  of  austere  grandeur,  that  we  sel 
dom  or  never  think  of  him  as  lover  or  husband.  But 
see  how  home-like  the  life  at  Mount  Vernon  was,  as 
described  by  a  young  Fredericksburg  woman  who  visited 
the  Washingtons  one  Christmas  week:  "  I  must  tell  you 
what  a  charming  day  I  spent  at  Mount  Vernon  with 
mama  and  Sally.  The  Gen'l  and  Madame  came  home 
on  Christmas  Eve,  and  such  a  racket  the  Servants  made, 
for  they  were  glad  of  their  coming!  Three  handsome 
young  officers  came  with  them.  All  Christmas  after 
noon  people  came  to  pay  their  respects  and  duty. 
Among  them  were  stately  dames  and  gay  young  women. 
The  Gen'l  seemed  very  happy,  and  Mistress  Washington 
was  from  Daybreake  making  everything  as  agreeable  as 
possible  for  everybody."8 

Alexander  Hamilton  found  life  in  his  domestic  circle 
so  pleasant  that  he  declared  he  resigned  his  seat  in 
Washington's  cabinet  to  enjoy  more  freely  such  happi 
ness.  Brooks  in  her  Dames  and  Daughters  of  Colonial 
Days,10  gives  us  a  pleasing  picture  of  Mrs.  Hamilton, 
"  seated  at  the  table  cutting  slices  of  bread  and  spread 
ing  them  with  butter  for  the  younger  boys,  who,  standing 
by  her  side,  read  in  turn  a  chapter  in  the  Bible  or  a  por 
tion  of  Goldsmith's  Rome.  When  the  lessons  were 
finished  the  father  and  the  elder  children  were  called  to 
breakfast,  after  which  the  boys  were  packed  off  to 
school."  "  You  cannot  imagine  how  domestic  I  am 

•  Bassett:    Writings  of  Col.  William  Byrd,  pp.  356-358. 
»  Wharton:  Martha  Washington,  p.  153. 
10  Page  242. 


Colonial  Woman  and  the  Home  105 

becoming,"  Hamilton  writes.     "  I  sigh  for  nothing  but 
the  society  of  my  wife  and  baby." 


///.     Domestic  Toil  and  Strain 

Despite  the  charm  of  colonial  home  life,  however, 
the  strain  of  that  life  upon  womankind  was  far  greater 
than  is  the  strain  of  modern  domestic  duties.  In  New 
England  this  was  probably  more  true  than  in  the  South; 
for  servants  were  far  less  plentiful  in  the  North  than  in 
Virginia  and  the  Carolinas.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  very  number  of  the  domestics  in  the  slave  colonies 
added  to  the  duties  and  anxieties  of  the  Southern  woman  ; 
for  genuine  executive  ability  was  required  in  maintaining 
order  and  in  feeding,  clothing,  and  caring  for  the  child 
ish,  shiftless,  unthinking  negroes  of  the  plantation. 
In  the  South  the  slaves  relieved  the  women  of  the 
middle  and  upper  classes  of  almost  all  manual  labor,  and, 
in  spite  of  the  constant  watchfulness  and  tact  required 
of  the  Southern  colonial  dame,  she  possibly  found 
domestic  life  somewhat  easier  than  did  her  sister  to  the 
North.  The  dreary  drudgery,  the  intense  physical 
labor  required  of  the  colonial  housewife  was  of  such  a 
nature  that  the  woman  of  to-day  can  scarcely  compre 
hend  it.  Aside  from  the  astonishing  number  of  child- 
births  and  child-deaths,  aside  too  from  the  natural 
privations,  dangers,  ravages  of  war,  accidents  and 
diseases,  incident  to  the  settlement  of  a  new  country, 
there  was  the  constant  drain  upon  the  woman's  physical 
strength  through  lack  of  those  household  conveniences 
which  every  home  maker  now  considers  mere  necessities. 
It  was  a  day  of  polished  and  sanded  floors,  and  the  pro-\ 


106  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

verbial  neatness  of  the  colonial  woman  demanded  that 
these  be  kept  as  bright  as  a  mirror.  Many  a  hundred 
miles  over  those  floors  did  the  colonial  dame  travel  - 
on  her  knees.  Then  too  every  reputable  household 
possessed  its  abundance  of  pewter  or  silver,  and  such 
ware  had  to  be  polished  with  painstaking  regularity. 
Indeed  the  wealth  of  many  a  dame  of  those  old  days 
consisted  mainly  of  silver,  pewter,  and  linen,  and  her 
pride  in  these  possessions  was  almost  as  vast  as  the  labor 
she  expended  in  caring  for  them.  What  a  collection  was 
in  those  old-time  linen  chests!  Humphreys,  in  her 
Catherine  Schuyler,  copies  the  inventory  of  articles  in 
one:  "  35  homespun  Sheets,  9  Fine  sheets,  12  Tow 
Sheets,  13  bolster-cases,  6  pillow-biers,  9  diaper  brake- 
fast  cloathes,  17  Table  cloathes,  12  damask  Napkins, 
27  homespun  Napkins,  31  Pillow-cases,  11  dresser 
Cloathes  and  a  damask  Cupboard  Cloate."  And  this 
too  before  the  day  of  the  washing-machine,  the  steam 
laundry,  and  the  electric  iron!  The  mere  energy  lost 
through  slow  hand-work  in  those  times,  if  transformed 
into  electrical  power,  would  probably  have  run  all  the 
mills  and  factories  in  America  previous  to  1800. 

There  is  a  decided  tendency  among  modern  house 
wives  to  take  a  hostile  view  of  the  ever  recurring  task  of 
preparing  food  for  the  family;  but  if  these  housewives 
were  compelled  suddenly  to  revert  to  the  method  and 
amount  of  cooking  of  colonial  days,  there  would  be  uni 
versal  rebellion.  Apparently  indigestion  was  little 
known  among  the  colonists  —  at  least  among  the  men, 
and  the  amount  of  heavy  food  consumed  by  the  average 
individual  is  astounding  to  the  modern  reader.  The 
caterer's  bill  for  a  banquet  given  by  the  corporation  of 


Colonial  Woman  and  the  Home  107 

New  York  to  Lord  Cornberry  may  help  us  to  realize  the 
gastronomic  ability  of  our  ancestors: 

"  Mayor  ...  Dr. 
To  a  piece  of  beef  and  cabbage, 
To  a  dish  of  tripe  and  cowheel 
To  a  leg  of  pork  and  turnips 
To  2  puddings 
To  a  surloyn  of  beef 
To  a  turkey  and  onions 
To  a  leg  mutton  and  pickles 
To  a  dish  chickens 
To  minced  pyes 
To  fruit,  cheese,  bread,  etc. 
To  butter  for  sauce 
To  dressing  dinner, 
To  31  bottles  wine 
To  beer  and  syder." 

We  must  remember,  moreover,  that  the  greater  part 
of  all  food  consumed  in  a  family  was  prepared  through 
its  every  stage  by  that  family.  No  factory-canned 
goods,  no  ready-to-warm  soups,  no  evaporated  fruits, 
no  potted  meats  stood  upon  the  grocers'  shelves  as  a 
very  present  help  in  time  of  need.  On  the  farm  or 
plantation  and  even  in  the  smaller  towns  the  meat  was 
raised,  slaughtered,  and  cured  at  home,  the  wheat,  oats, 
and  corn  grown,  threshed,  and  frequently  made  into 
flour  and  meal  by  the  family,  the  fruit  dried  or  preserved 
by  the  housewife.  Molasses,  sugar,  spices,  and  rum 
might  be  imported  from  the  West  Indies,  but  the  every 
day  foods  must  come  from  the  local  neighborhood,  and 
through  the  hard  manual  efforts  of  the  consumer.  An 


108  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

old  farmer  declared  in  the  American  Museum  in  1787: 
"  At  this  time  my  farm  gave  me  and  my  whole  family 
a  good  living  on  the  produce  of  it,  and  left  me  one  year 
with  another  one  hundred  and  fifty  silver  dollars,  for  I 
never  spent  more  than  ten  dollars  a  year,  which  was  for 
salt,  nails,  and  the  like.  Nothing  to  eat,  drink  or  wear 
was  bought,  as  my  farm  provided  all." 
v  The  very  building  of  a  fire  to  cook  the  food  was  a 
I  laborious  task  with  flint  and  steel,  one  generally  avoided 
by  never  allowing  the  embers  on  the  family  hearth  to 
die.  Fire  was  indeed  a  precious  gift  in  that  day,  and 
that  the  methods  sometimes  used  in  obtaining  it  were 
truly  primitive,  may  be  conjectured  from  the  following 
extract  from  Prince's  Annals  of  New  England:  "  April 
21,  1631.  The  house  of  John  Page  of  Waterton  burnt 
by  carrying  a  few  coals  from  one  house  to  another.  A 
coal  fell  by  the  way  and  kindled  the  leaves."11 

Over  those  great  fire-places  of  colonial  times  many  a 
wife  presented  herself  as  a  burnt  offering  to  her  lord  and 
master,  the  goodman  of  the  house.  The  pots  and  kettles 
that  ornamented  the  kitchen  walls  were  implements  for 
pre-historic  giants  rather  than  for  frail  women.  The 
brass  or  copper  kettles  often  holding  fifteen  gallons, 
i  and  the  huge  iron  pots  weighing  forty  pounds,  were 
lugged  hither  and  thither  by  women  whose  every  ounce 
of  strength  was  needed  for  the  too  frequent  pangs  of 
child-birth.  The  colonists  boasted  of  the  number  of 
generations  a  kettle  would  outlast;  but  perhaps  the 
generations  were  too  short  —  thanks  to  the  size  of  the 
kettle. 

And  yet  with  such  cumbersome  utensils,  the  good 

"  English  Garner,  Vol.  II,  p.  584. 


Colonial  Woman  and  the  Home  109 

wives  of  all  the  colonies  prepared  meals  that  would  drive 
the  modern  cook  to  distraction.  Hear  these  eighteenth 
century  comments  on  Philadelphia  menus: 

"  This  plain  Friend  [Miers  Fisher,  a  young  Quaker 
lawyer],  with  his  plain  but  pretty  wife  with  her  Thees 
and  Thous,  had  provided  us  a  costly  entertainment: 
ducks,  hams,  chickens,  beef,  pig,  tarts,  creams,  custards, 
jellies,  fools,  trifles,  floating  islands,  beer,  porter,  punch, 
wine  and  along,  etc." 

"  At  the  home  of  Chief  Justice  Chew.  About  four 
o'clock  we  were  called  to  dinner.  Turtle  and  every 
other  thing,  flummery,  jellies,  sweetmeats  of  twenty 
sorts,  trifles,  whipped  sillabubs,  floating  islands,  fools, 
etc.,  with  a  dessert  of  fruits,  raisins,  almonds,  pears, 
peaches. 

"  A  most  sinful  feast  again!  everything  which  could 
delight  the  eye  or  allure  the  taste;  curds  and  creams, 
jellies,  sweetmeats  of  various  sorts,  twenty  kinds  of 
tarts,  fools,  trifles,  floating  islands,  whipped  sillabubs, 
etc.  Parmesan  cheese,  punch,  wine,  porter,  beer."12 

To  be  a  housewife  in  colonial  days  evidently  required 
the  strength  of  Hercules,  the  skill  of  Tubal  Cain,  and  the 
patience  of  Job.  Such  an  advertisement  as  that  appear 
ing  in  the  Pennsylvania  Packet  of  September  23,  1780, 
was  not  an  exceptional  challenge  to  female  ingenuity 
and  perseverance: 

"  Wanted  at  a  Seat  about  half  a  day's  journey  from 
Philadelphia,  on  which  are  good  improvements  and 
domestics,  A  single  Woman  of  unsullied  Reputation, 
an  affiable,  cheerful,  active  and  amiable  Disposition; 
cleanly,  industrious,  perfectly  qualified  to  direct  and 

"Earle:    Home  Life  in  Colonial  Days,  p.  160. 


110  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

manage  the  female  Concerns  of  country  business,  as 
raising  small  stock,  dairying,  marketing,  combing, 
carding,  spinning,  knitting,  sewing,  pickling,  preserving, 
etc.,  and  occasionally  to  instruct  two  Young  Ladies  in 
those  Branches  of  Oeconomy,  who,  with  their  father, 
compose  the  Family.  Such  a  person  will  be  treated  with 
respect  and  esteem,  and  meet  with  every  encouragement 
due  to  such  a  character." 

It  is  apparent  that  besides  the  work  now  commonly 
carried  on  in  the  household,  colonial  women  performed 
many  a  duty  now  abrogated  to  the  factory.  In  fact,  so 
far  are  we  removed  from  the  industrial  customs  of  the 
era  that  many  of  the  terms  then  common  in  every  home 
have  lost  all  meaning  for  the  average  modern  housewife. 
For  nearly  two  centuries  the  greater  part  of  the  prepara 
tion  of  material  for  clothing  was  done  by  the  family; 
the  spinning,  the  weaving,  the  dyeing,  the  making  of 
thread,  these  and  many  similar  domestic  activities 
preceded  the  fashioning  of  a  garment.  When  we  remem 
ber  that  the  sewing  machine  was  unknown  we  may  com 
prehend  to  some  extent  the  immense  amount  of  labor 
performed  by  women  and  girls  of  those  early  days. 
The  possession  of  many  slaves  or  servants  offered  but 
little  if  any  relief;  for  such  ownership  involved,  of  course, 
the  manufacture  of  additional  clothing.  Humphreys  in 
her  Catherine  Schuyler  presents  this  quotation  comment 
ing  upon  a  skilled  housewife:  "  Notwithstanding  they 
have  so  large  a  family  to  regulate  (from  50  to  60  blacks) 
Mrs.  Schuyler  seeth  to  the  Manufacturing  of  suitable 
Cloathing  for  all  her  family,  all  of  which  is  the  produce 
of  her  plantation  in  which  she  is  helped  by  her  Mama  & 
Miss  Polly  and  the  whole  is  done  with  less  Combustion 


Colonial  Woman  and  the  Home  111 

&  noise  than  in  many  Families  who  have  not  more  than 
4  or  5  Persons  in  the  whole  Family." 

IV.     Domestic  Pride 

Of  course  the  well-to-do  Americans  of  the  eighteenth 
century  at  length  adopted  the  custom  of  importing  the 
finer  cloth,  silk,  satin  and  brocade;  but  after  the  middle 
of  the  century  the  anti-British  sentiment  impelled  even 
the  wealthiest  either  to  make  or  to  buy  the  coarser  Ameri 
can  cloth.  Indeed,  it  became  a  matter  of  genuine  pride 
to  many  a  patriotic  dame  that  she  could  thus  use  the 
spinning  wheel  in  behalf  of  her  country.  Daughters  of 
Liberty,  having  agreed  to  drink  no  tea  and  to  wear  no 
garments  of  foreign  make,  had  spinning  circles  similar 
to  the  quilting  bees  of  later  days,  and  it  was  no  uncommon 
sight  between  1770  and  1785  to  see  groups  of  women, 
carrying  spinning  wheels  through  the  streets,  going  to 
such  assemblies.  See  this  bit  of  description  of  such  a 
meeting  held  at  Rowley,  Massachusetts:  "  A  number  of 
thirty-three  respectable  ladies  of  the  town  met  at  sun 
rise  with  their  wheels  to  spend  the  day  at  the  house  of  the 
Rev'd  Jedekiah  Jewell,  in  the  laudable  design  of  a 
spinning  match.  At  an  hour  before  sunset,  the  ladies 
there  appearing  neatly  dressed,  principally  in  homespun, 
a  polite  and  generous  repast  of  American  production  was 
set  for  their  entertainment.  .  .  ,"13 

If  the  modern  woman  had  to  labor  for  clothing  as  did 
her  great-great-grandmother,  styles  in  dress  would 
become  astonishingly  simple.  After  the  spinning  and 
weaving,  the  cloth  was  dyed  or  bleached,  and  this  in 
itself  was  a  task  to  try  the  fortitude  of  a  strong  soul. 

11  Earle:  Home  Life  in  Colonial  Days,  p.  183. 


112  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

Toward  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  impor 
tation  of  silks  and  finer  materials  somewhat  lessened 
this  form  of  work;  but  even  through  the  first  decade  of 
the  nineteenth  century  spinning  and  weaving  continued 
to  be  a  part  of  the  work  of  many  a  household.  The 
Revolution,  as  we  have  seen,  gave  a  new  impetus  to  this 
art,  and  the  first  ladies  of  the  land  proudly  exhibited 
their  skill.  As  Wharton  remarks  in  her  Martha  Wash 
ington:  "  Mrs.  Washington,  who  would  not  have  the 
heart  to  starve  her  direst  foe  within  her  own  gates, 
heartily  co-operated  with  her  husband  and  his  colleagues. 
The  spinning  wheels  and  carding  and  weaving  machines 
were  set  to  work  with  fresh  spirit  at  Mt.  Vernon.  .  .  . 
Some  years  later,  in  New  Jersey,  Mrs.  Washington  told 
a  friend  that  she  often  kept  sixteen  spinning  wheels  in 
constant  operation,  and  at  one  time  Lund  Washington 
spoke  of  a  larger  number.  Two  of  her  own  dresses  of 
cotton  striped  with  silk  Mrs.  Washington  showed  with 
great  pride,  explaining  that  the  silk  stripes  in  the  fabrics 
were  made  from  the  ravellings  of  brown  silk  stockings 
and  old  crimson  damask  chair  covers.  Her  coachman, 
footman,  and  maid  were  all  attired  in  domestic  cloth, 
except  the  coachman's  scarlet  cuffs,  which  she  took  care 
to  state  had  been  imported  before  the  war.  .  .  .  The 
welfare  of  the  slaves,  of  whom  one  hundred  and  fifty 
had  been  part  of  her  dower,  their  clothing,  much  of 
which  was  woven  and  made  upon  the  estate,  their  com 
fort,  especially  when  ill;  and  their  instruction  in  sewing, 
knitting  and  other  housewifely  arts,  engaged  much  of 
Mrs.  Washington's  time  and  thought."14 

"  Page  71. 


Colonial   Woman  and  the  Home  113 

V.     Special  Domestic  Tasks 

So  many  little  necessities  to  which  we  never  give  a 
second  thought  were  matters  of  grave  concern  in  those 
old  days.  The  matter,  for  instance,  of  obtaining  a 
candle  or  a  piece  of  soap  was  one  requiring  the  closest 
attention  and  many  an  hour  of  drudgery.  The  supplying 
of  the  household  with  its  winter  stock  of  candles  was  a 
harsh  but  inevitable  duty  in  the  autumn,  and  the  lugging 
about  of  immense  kettles,  the  smell  of  tallow,  deer  suet, 
bear's  grease,  and  stale  pot-liquor,  and  the  constant 
demands  of  the  great  fireplace  must  have  made  the  candle 
season  a  period  of  terror  and  loathing  to  many  a  burdened 
wife  and  mother.  Then,  too,  the  constant  care  of  the 
wood  ashes  and  hunks  of  fat  and  lumps  of  grease  for 
soap  making  was  a  duty  which  no  rural  woman  dared  to 
neglect.  Nor  must  we  forget  that  every  housewife  was 
something  of  a  physician,  and  the  gathering  and  drying 
of  herbs,  the  making  of  ointments  and  salve,  the  dis 
tilling  of  bitters,  and  the  boiling  of  syrups  was  then  as 
much  a  part  of  housework  as  it  is  to-day  a  part  of  a 
druggist's  activities. 

In  a  sense,  however,  the  very  nature  of  such  work 
provided  some  phases  of  that  social  life  which  authorities 
consider   so   lacking   in   colonial   existence.     For   those 
arduous  tasks  frequently  required  neighborly  co-opera 
tion,  and  social  functions  thus  became  mingled  with 
industrial     activities.     Quilting    bees,     spinning     bees,  \ 
knitting  bees,  sewing  bees,  paring  bees,  and  a  dozen  other  \ 
types  of  "  bees  "  served  to  lighten  the  drudgery  of  such   1 
work  and  developed  a  spirit  of  neighborliness  that  is 
perhaps  a  little  lacking  under  modern  social  conditions.  / 


114  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

Ignoring  the  crude  methods  of  labor,  and  the  other  forms 
of  hardship,  we  may  look  back  from  the  vantage  point  of 
two  hundred  years  of  progress  and  perhaps  admire  and 
envy  something  of  the  quietness,  orderliness,  and  sim 
plicity  of  those  colonial  homes.  After  all,  however, 
doubtless  many  a  colonial  mother  now  and  then  grew 
sick  at  heart  over  the  conditions  and  problems  facing 
her.  Confronted  with  the  unsettled  condition  of  a 
new  country,  with  society  on  a  most  insecure  founda 
tion,  with  privations,  hardships,  and  genuine  toil  always 
in  view,  and  with  the  prospect  of  the  terrible  strain  of 
bearing  and  rearing  an  inexcusable  number  of  children, 
the  wife  of  that  era  may  not  have  been  able  to  see  all 
the  romance  which  modern  novelists  have  perceived  in 
the  days  that  are  no  more. 

VI.     The  Size  of  the  Family 

And  this  brings  us  once  more  to  what  was  doubtless 
the  most  terrific  burden  placed  upon  the  colonial  woman 
—  the  incessant  bearing  of  offspring.  In  those  days 
large  families  were  not  a  liability,  but  a  positive  asset. 
With  a  vast  wilderness  teeming  with  potential  wealth, 
waiting  only  for  a  supply  of  workers,  the  only  economic 
pressure  on  the  birth  rate  was  the  pressure  to  make  it 
larger  to  meet  the  demand  for  laborers.  Every  child 
born  in  the  colonies  was  assured,  through  moderate 
industry,  of  the  comforts  of  life,  and,  through  patience 
and  shrewd  investments,  of  some  degree  of  wealth, 
j  Boys  and  girls  meant  workers  —  producers  of  wealth  — ; 
the  boys  on  farm  or  sea  or  in  the  shop,  the  girls  in  the 
home.  Since  their  wants  were  simple,  since  the  educa 
tional  demands  were  not  large,  since  much  of  the  food  or 


Colonial  Woman  and  the  Home  115 

clothing  was  produced  directly  by  those  who  used  it, 
children  were  not  unwelcome  —  at  least  to  the  fathers. 

Yet,  who  can  say  what  rebellion  unconsciously  arose 
sometimes  in  the  hearts  of  the  women?  Doubtless  they 
strove  to  make  themselves  believe  that  all  the  little 
ones  were  a  blessing  and  welcome  —  the  religion  of  the 
day  taught  that  any  other  thought  was  sinful  —  but 
still  there  must  have  been  many  a  woman,  distant  from 
medical  aid,  living  amidst  new,  raw  environments, 
mothers  already  of  many  a  child,  who  longed  for  liberty 
from  the  inevitable  return  of  the  trial.  Women  bore  I 
many  children  —  and  buried  many.  And  mothers  / 
followed  their  children  to  the  grave  too  often  —  to  rest 
with  them.  Cotton  Mather,  married  twice,  was  father  of 
fifteen  children;  the  two  wives  of  Benjamin  Franklin's 
father  bore  seventeen;  Roger  Clap  of  Dorchester, 
Massachusetts,  "  begat  "  fourteen  children  by  one  wife; 
William  Phipps,  a  governor  of  Massachusetts,  hadJ 
twenty-five  brothers  and  sisters  all  by  one  mother.! 
Catherine  Schuyler,  a  woman  of  superior  intellect,  gave 
birth  to  fourteen  children.  Judge  Sewall  piously  tells 
us  in  his  Diary:  "  Jan.  6,  1701.  This  is  the  Thirteenth 
child  that  I  have  offered  up  to  God  in  Baptisme;  my 
wife  having  born  me  Seven  Sons  and  Seven  Daughters." 
One  of  the  children  had  been  born  dead,  and  therefore 
had  not  received  baptism.  Ben  Franklin  often  boasted 
of  the  strong  constitution  of  his  mother  and  of  the  fact 
that  she  nursed  all  of  her  own  ten  babes;  but  he  does  not 
tell  us  of  the  constitution  of  the  children  or  of  the  ages 
to  which  they  lived.  Five  of  SewalFs  children  died  in 
infancy,  and  only  four  lived  beyond  the  age  of  thirty. 
It  seems  never  to  have  occurred  to  the  pious  colonial 


116  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

fathers  that  it  would  be  better  to  rear  five  to  maturity 

and  bury  none,  than  to  rear  five  and  bury  five.     The 

strain   on   the    womanhood    of   the    period    cannot   be 

N  doubted;     innumerable   men    were   married     twice     or 

;  three  times  and  no  small  number  four  times. 

Industry  was  the  law  of  the  day,  and  every  child  soon 
became  a  producer.  The  burdens  placed  upon  children 
naturally  lightened  as  the  colonies  progressed;  but  as 
late  as  1775,  if  we  may  judge  by  the  following  record,  not 
many  moments  of  childhood  were  wasted.  This  is  an 
account  of  her  day's  work  jotted  down  by  a  young  girl 
in  that  year:  "  Fix'd  gown  for  Prude,  —  Mend  Mother's 
Riding-hood,  Spun  short  thread,  —  Fix'd  two  gowns 
for  Welsh's  girls,  —  Carded  tow,  —  Spun  linen,  — 
Worked  on  Cheese-basket,  —  Hatchel'd  flax  with  Han 
nah,  we  did  51  Ibs.  apiece,  —  Pleated  and  ironed,  — 
Read  a  Sermon  of  Dodridge's,  —  Spooled  a  piece  — 
Milked  the  Cows,  —  Spun  linen,  did  50  knots,  —  Made  a 
Broom  of  Guinea  wheat  straw,  —  Spun  thread  to  whiten, 
—  Set  a  Red  dye,  —  Had  two  Scholars  from  Mrs. 
Taylor's,  —  I  carded  two  pounds  of  whole  wool  and  felt 
Nationaly,  —  Spun  harness  twine,  —  Scoured  the  pew 
ter,  —  Ague  in  my  face,  —  Ellen  was  spark'd  last 
night,  —  spun  thread  to  whiten  —  Went  to  Mr.  Otis's 
and  made  them  a  swinging  visit  —  Israel  said  I  might 
ride  his  jade  [horse]  —  Prude  stayed  at  home  and  learned 
Eve's  Dream  by  heart."15 

VII.     Indian  Attacks 

The  children  whose  comment  has  just  been  quoted 
were  probably  safe  from  all  dangers  except  ague  and 

»  Fisher:  Men,  Women  &  Manners  of  Col.  Days,  p.  275. 


Colonial  Woman  and  the  Home  117 

sparking;  but1  in  the  previous  century  women  and 
children  daily  faced  possibilities  that  apparently  should 
have  kept  them  in  a  continuous  state  of  fright.  Time 
after  time  mothers  and  babes  were  stolen  from  the 
Indians,  and  the  tales  of  their  sufferings  fill  many  an 
interesting  page  in  the  diaries,  records,  and  letters  of  the 
seventeenth  century  and  the  early  eighteenth.  Hear 
these  words  from  an  early  pamphlet,  A  Memorial  of  the 
Present  Deplorable  State  of  New  England,  inserted  in 
Se wall's  Diary: 

"  The  Indians  came  upon  the  House  of  one  Adams 
at  Wells,  and  captived  the  Man  and  his  Wife,  and  assas 
sinated  the  children.  .  .  .  The  woman  had  Lain  in 
about  Eight  Days.  They  drag'd  her  out,  and  tied  her 
to  a  Post,  until  the  House  was  rifled.  They  then  loosed 
her,  and  bid  her  walk.  She  could  not  stir.  By  the  help 
of  a  Stick  she  got  half  a  step  forward.  She  look'd  up 
to  God.  On  the  sudden  a  new  strength  entered  into  her. 
She  travelled  that  very  Day  Twenty  Miles  a  Foot; 
She  was  up  to  the  Neck  in  Water  five  times  that  very 
Day  in  passing  of  Rivers.  At  night  she  fell  over  head 
and  ears,  into  a  Slough  in  a  Swamp,  and  hardly  got  out 
alive.  .  .  .  She  is  come  home  alive  Unto  us." 

The  following  story  of  Mrs.  Bradley  of  Haverly, 
Massachusetts,  was  sworn  to  as  authentic: 

"  She  was  now  entered  into  a  Second  Captivity; 
but  she  had  the  great  Encumbrance  of  being  Big  with 
Child,  and  within  Six  Weeks  of  her  Time!  After  about 
an  Hours  Rest,  wherein  they  made  her  put  on  Snow 
Shoes,  which  to  manage,  requires  more  than  ordinary 
agility,  she  travelled  with  her  Tawny  Guardians  all 
that  night,  and  the  next  day  until  Ten  a  Clock,  associated 


118  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

with  one  Woman  more  who  had  been  brought  to  Bed 
but  just  one  Week  before:  Here  they  Refreshed  them 
selves  a  little,  and  then  travelled  on  till  Night;  when 
they  had  no  Refreshment  given  them,  nor  had  they 
any,  till  after  their  having  Travelled  all  the  Forenoon 
of  the  Day  Ensuing.  .  .  .  She  underwent  incredible 
Hardships  and  Famine:  A  Mooses  Hide,  as  tough  as 
you  may  Suppose  it,  was  the  best  and  most  of  her  Diet. 
In  one  and  twenty  days  they  came  to  their  Head 
quarters.  .  .  .  But  then  her  Snow-Shoes  were  taken 
from  her;  and  yet  she  must  go  every  step  above  the  knee 
in  Snow,  with  such  weariness  that  her  Soul  often  Pray'd 
That  the  Lord  would  put  an  end  unto  her  weary  life! 

"  .  .  .  Here  in  the  Night,  she  found  herself  ill." 
[Her  child  was  born  here].  .  .  .  There  she  lay  till  the 
next  Night,  with  none  but  the  Snow  under  her,  and  the 
Heaven  over  her,  in  a  misty  and  rainy  season.  She 
sent  then  unto  a  French  Priest,  that  he  would  speak  unto 
her  Squaw  Mistress,  who  then,  without  condescending 
to  look  upon  her,  allow'd  her  a  little  Birch-Rind,  to  cover 
her  Head  from  the  Injuries  of  the  Weather,  and  a  little 
bit  of  dried  Moose,  which  being  boiled,  she  drunk  the 
Broth,  and  gave  it  unto  the  Child. 

"  In  a  Fortnight  she  was  called  upon  to  Travel  again, 
with  her  child  in  her  Arms :  every  now  and  then,  a  whole 
day  together  without  the  least  Morsel  of  any  Food,  and 
when  she  had  any,  she  fed  only  on  Ground-nuts  and  Wild- 
onions,  and  Lilly-roots.  By  the  last  of  May,  they 
arrived  at  Cowefick,  where  they  planted  their  Corn; 
wherein  she  was  put  into  a  hard  Task,  so  that  the  Child 
extreamly  Suffered.  The  Salvages  would  sometimes 
also  please  themselves,  with  casting  hot  Embers  into  the 


Colonial  Woman  and  the  Home  119 

Mouth  of  the  Child,  which  would  render  the  Mouth  so 
sore  that  it  could  not  Suck  for  a  long  while  together, 
so  that  it  starv'd  and  Dy'd.  .  .  . 

"  Her  mistress,  the  squaw,  kept  her  a  Twelve-month 
with  her,  in  a  Squalid  Wigwam:  Where,  in  the  following 
Winter,  she  fell  sick  of  a  Feavour;  but  in  the  very  height 
and  heat  of  her  Paroxysms,  her  Mistress  would  compel 
her  sometimes  to  Spend  a  Winters-night,  which  is  there 
a  very  bitter  one,  abroad  in  all  the  bitter  Frost  and  Snow 
of  the  Climate.  She  recovered;  but  Four  Indians  died 
of  the  Feavour,  and  at  length  her  Mistress  also.  .  .  . 
She  was  made  to  pass  the  River  on  the  Ice,  when  every 
step  she  took,  she  might  have  struck  through  it  if  she 
pleased. 

"  .  .  .  At  last,  there  came  to  the  fight  of  her  a  Priest 
from  Quebeck  who  had  known  her  in  her  former  Cap 
tivity  at  Naridgowock.  .  .  .  He  made  the  Indians  sell 
her  to  a  French  Family  .  .  .  where  tho'  she  wrought 
hard,  she  Lived  more  comfortably  and  contented.  .  .  . 
She  was  finally  allowed  to  return  to  her  husband."16 

The  account  of  Mary  Rowlandson's  captivity,  long 
known  to  every  New  England  family,  and  perhaps 
secretly  read  by  many  a  boy  in  lieu  of  the  present  Wild 
West  series,  may  serve  as  another  vivid  example  of  the 
dangers  and  sufferings  faced  by  every  woman  who  took 
unto  herself  a  husband  and  went  forth  from  the  coast 
settlements  to  found  a  new  home  in  the  wilderness. 
The  narrative,  as  written  by  Mrs.  Rowlandson  herself, 
tells  of  the  attack  by  the  Indians,  the  massacre  of  her 
relations,  and  the  capture  of  herself  and  her  babe: 

[l  There  remained  nothing  to  me  but  one  poor,  wounded 

"  Sewall:   Diary,  Vol.  I,  p.  59,  ff. 


120  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

babe,  and  it  seemed  at  present  worse  than  death,  that  it 
was  in  such  a  pitiful  condition,  bespeaking  compassion, 
and  I  had  no  refreshing  for  it,  nor  suitable  things  to 
revive  it.  ...  But  now  (the  next  morning)  I  must  turn 
my  back  upon  the  town,  and  travel  with  them  into  the 
vast  and  desolate  wilderness,  I  knew  not  whither.  It  is 
not  my  tongue  or  pen  can  express  the  sorrows  of  my 
heart,  and  bitterness  of  my  spirit,  that  I  had  at  this 
departure;  but  God  was  with  me  in  a  wonderful  manner, 
carrying  me  along  and  bearing  up  my  spirit  that  it  did 
not  quite  fail. 

"  One  of  the  Indians  carried  my  poor  wounded  babe 
upon  a  horse,  it  went  moaning  all  along:  *  I  shall  die,  I 
shall  die.'  I  went  on  foot  after  it,  with  sorrow  that 
cannot  be  expressed.  At  length  I  took  it  off  the  horse 
and  carried  it  in  my  arms,  till  my  strength  failed  and  I 
fell  down  with  it.  Then  they  set  me  upon  a  horse  with 
my  wounded  child  in  my  lap,  and  there  being  no  furni 
ture  on  the  horse's  back,  as  we  were  going  down  a  steep 
hill  we  both  fell  over  the  horse's  head,  at  which  they, 
like  inhuman  creatures,  laughed  and  rejoiced  to  see  it, 
though  I  thought  we  should  there  have  ended  our  days, 
overcome  with  so  many  difficulties." 

They  went  farther  and  farther  into  the  wilderness, 
and  a  few  days  after  leaving  her  home,  her  son  Joseph 
joined  her,  having  been  captured  by  another  band  of 
Indians.  She  tells  how,  having  her  Bible  with  her,  she 
and  her  son  found  it  a  continual  help,  reading  it  and 
praying. 

"  After  this  it  quickly  began  to  snow,  and  when  night 
came  on  they  stopped:  and  now  down  I  must  sit  in  the 
snow  by  a  little  fire,  and  a  few  boughs  behind  me,  with 


Colonial  Woman  and  the  Home  121 

my  sick  child  in  my  lap  and  calling  much  for  water, 
(being  now)  through  the  wound  fallen  into  a  violent 
fever.  My  own  wound  also  growing  so  stiff  that  I  could 
scarce  sit  down  or  rise  up,  yet  so  it  must  be,  that  I  must 
sit  all  this  cold  winter  night,  upon  the  cold  snowy  ground, 
with  my  sick  child  in  my  arms,  looking  that  every  hour 
would  be  the  last  of  its  life;  and  having  no  Christian 
friend  near  me,  either  to  comfort  or  help  me. 

"  .  .  .  Fearing  the  worst,  I  durst  not  send  to  my 
husband,  though  there  were  some  thoughts  of  his  com 
ing  to  redeem  and  fetch  me,  not  knowing  what  might 
follow.  .  .  . 

"  The  Lord  preserved  us  in  safety  that  night,  and  raised 
us  up  again  in  the  morning,  and  carried  us  along,  that 
before  noon  we  came  to  Concord.  Now  was  I  full  of  joy 
and  yet  not  without  sorrow:  joy,  to  see  such  a  lovely 
sight,  so  many  Christians  together;  and  some  of  them 
my  neighbors.  There  I  met  with  my  brother,  and 
brother-in-law,  who  asked  me  if  I  knew  where  his  wife 
was.  Poor  heart!  he  had  helped  to  bury  her  and  knew 
it  not;  she,  being  shot  down  by  the  house,  was  partly 
burned,  so  that  those  who  were  at  Boston  .  .  .  who  came 
back  afterward  and  buried  the  dead,  did  not  know  her. 
.  .  .  Being  recruited  with  food  and  rainment,  we  went 
to  Boston  that  day,  where  I  met  with  my  dear  husband ; 
but  the  thoughts  of  our  dear  children,  one  being  dead, 
and  the  other  we  could  not  tell  where,  abated  our  com 
fort  in  each  other.  .  .  ." 

And  here  is  the  brief  story  of  the  return  of  her  daugh 
ter:  "  She  was  travelling  one  day  with  the  Indians, 
with  her  basket  on  her  back;  the  company  of  Indians 
were  got  before  her  and  gone  out  of  sight,  all  except  one 


122  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

squaw.  She  followed  the  squaw  till  night,  and  then 
both  of  them  lay  down,  having  nothing  over  them  but  the 
heavens,  nor  under  them  but  the  earth.  Thus  she 
traveled  three  days  together,  having  nothing  to  eat  or 
drink  but  water  and  green  whortle-berries.  At  last 
they  came  into  Providence,  where  she  was  kindly 
entertained  by  several  of  that  town.  .  .  .  The  Lord 
make  us  a  blessing  indeed  to  each  other.  Thus  hath  the 
Lord  brought  me  and  mine  out  of  the  horrible  pit,  and 
hath  set  us  in  the  midst  of  tender-hearted  and  com 
passionate  Christians.  'Tis  the  desire  of  my  soul  that 
we  may  walk  worthy  of  the  mercies  received,  and  which 
we  are  receiving." 

This  carrying  away  of  white  children  occurred  with 
surprising  frequency,  and  we  of  a  later  generation  can 
but  wonder  that  their  parents  did  not  wreak  more  terrific 
vengeance  upon  the  red  man  than  is  recorded  even  in  the 
bloodiest  pages  of  our  early  history.  In  1755,  after  the 
close  of  the  war  with  Pontiac,  a  meeting  took  place 
in  the  orchard  of  the  Schuyler  homestead  at  Albany, 
where  many  of  such  kidnapped  children  were  returned 
to  their  parents  and  relatives.  Perhaps  we  can  compre 
hend  some  of  the  tragedy  of  this  form  of  warfare  when 
we  read  of  this  gathering  as  described  by  an  eye-witness : 

"  Poor  women  who  had  traveled  one  hundred  miles 
from  the  back  settlements  of  Pennsylvania  and  New 
England  appeared  here  with  anxious  looks  and  aching 
hearts,  not  knowing  whether  their  children  were  alive 
or  dead,  or  how  to  identify  their  children  if  they  should 
meet  them.  .  .  . 

"  On  a  gentle  slope  near  the  Fort  stood  a  row  of  tem 
porary  huts  built  by  retainers  to  the  troops;  the  green 


Colonial   Woman  and  the  Home  123 

before  these  buildings  was  the  scene  of  these  pathetic 
recognitions  which  I  did  not  fail  to  attend.  The  joy 
of  the  happy  mothers  was  overpowering  and  found  vent 
in  tears ;  but  not  the  tears  of  those  who  after  long  travel 
found  not  what  they  sought.  It  was  affecting  to  see  the 
deep  silent  sorrow  of  the  Indian  women  and  of  the 
children,  who  knew  no  other  mother,  and  clung  fondly  to 
their  bosems  from  whence  they  were  not  torn  without 
bitter  shrieks.  I  shall  never  forget  the  grotesque  figures 
and  wild  looks  of  these  young  savages ;  nor  the  trembling 
haste  with  which  their  mothers  arrayed  them  in  the  new 
clothes  they  had  brought  for  them,  as  hoping  with  the 
Indian  dress  they  would  throw  off  their  habits  and 
attachments.  .  .  ,"17 

Such  distress  caused  by  Indian  raids  did  not,  of 
course,  cease  with  the  seventeenth  century.  During 
the  entire  period  of  the  next  century  the  settlers  on  the 
western  frontier  lived  under  constant  dread  of  such 
calamities.  It  has  been  one  of  the  chief  elements  in 
American  history  —  this  ceaseless  expectation  of  war 
fare  with  primitive  savages.  In  the  settlement  of  the 
Ohio  and  Mississippi  valleys,  in  the  establishment  of  the 
great  states  of  the  Plains,  in  the  founding  of  civilization 
on  the  Pacific  slope,  even  down  to  the  twentieth  century, 
the  price  of  progress  has  been  paid  in  this  form  of  savage 
torture  of  women  and  children.  Even  in  the  long 
settled  communities  of  the  eighteenth  century  such 
dangers  did  not  entirely  disappear.  As  late  as  1782, 
when  an  attempt  was  made  by  Burgoyne  to  capture 
General  Schuyler,  the  ancient  contest  between  mother 
and  Indian  warrior  once  more  occurred.  "  Their  guns 

»  Humphreys:   Catherine  Schuyler,  p.  123. 


124  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

were  stacked  in  the  hall,  the  guards  being  outside  and 
the  relief  asleep.  Lest  the  small  Philip  (grandson  of 
General  Schuyler)  be  tempted  to  play  with  the  guns, 
his  mother  had  them  removed.  The  guards  rushed  for 
their  guns,  but  they  were  gone.  The  family  fled  up 
stairs,  but  Margaret,  remembering  the  baby  in  the  cradle 
below,  ran  back,  seized  the  baby,  and  when  she  was  half 
way  up  the  flight,  an  Indian  flung  his  tomahawk  at  her 
head,  which,  missing  her,  buried  itself  in  the  wood, 
and  left  its  historic  mark  to  the  present  time."18 

VIII.     Parental  Training 

We  sometimes  hear  the  complaint  that  the  training  of 
the  modern  child  is  left  almost  entirely  to  the  mother  or 
to  the  woman  school  teacher,  and  that  as  a  result  the 
boy  is  becoming  effeminate.  The  indications  are  that 
this  could  not  have  been  said  of  the  colonial  child;  for, 
according  to  the  records  of  that  day,  there  was  admirable 
co-operation  between  man  and  wife  in  the  training  of 
their  little  ones.  Kindly  Judge  Sewall,  who  so  indis 
criminately  mingled  his  accounts  of  courtships,  weddings, 
funerals,  visits  to  neighbors,  notices  of  hangings,  duties 
as  a  magistrate,  what  not,  often  spared  time  from  his 
activities  among  the  grown-ups  to  record  such  incidents 
as:  "Sabbath-day,  Febr.  14,  1685.  Little  Hull  speaks 
Apple  plainly  in  the  hearing  of  his  grand-mother  and 
Eliza  Jane;  this  the  first  word."19 

And  hear  what  Samuel  Mather  in  his  Life  of  Cotton 
Mather  tells  of  the  famous  divine's  interest  in  the 
children  of  the  household:  "  He  began  betimes  to  enter- 

18  Humphreys:   Catherine  Schuyler,  p.  193. 
»•  Vol.  I.  p.  122. 


Colonial  Woman  and  the  Home  125 

tain  them  with  delightful  stories,  especially  scriptural 
ones;  and  he  would  ever  conclude  with  some  lesson  of 
piety,  giving  them  to  learn  that  lesson  from  the  story. 
.  .  .  And  thus  every  day  at  the  table  he  used  himself  to 
tell  some  entertaining  tale  before  he  rose ;  and  endeavored 
to  make  it  useful  to  the  olive  plants  about  the  table. 
When  his  children  accidentally,  at  any  time,  came  in 
his  way,  it  was  his  custom  to  let  fall  some  sentence  or 
other  that  might  be  monitory  or  profitable  to  them.  .  .  . 
As  soon  as  possible  he  would  make  the  children  learn  to 
write;  and,  when  they  had  the  use  of  the  pen,  he  would 
employ  them  in  writing  out  the  most  instructive,  and 
profitable  things  he  could  invent  for  them.  .  .  .  The 
first  chastisement  which  he  would  inflict  for  any  ordi 
nary  fault  was  to  let  the  child  see  and  hear  him  in  an 
astonishment,  and  hardly  able  to  believe  that  the  child 
could  do  so  base  a  thing;  but  believing  they  would  never 
do  it  again.  He  would  never  come  to  give  a  child  a 
blow  excepting  in  case  of  obstinacy  or  something  very 
criminal.  To  be  chased  for  a  while  out  of  his  presence 
he  would  make  to  be  looked  upon  as  the  sorest  punish 
ment  in  his  family.  He  would  not  say  much  to  them  of 
the  evil  angels;  because  he  would  not  have  them  enter 
tain  any  frightful  fancies  about  the  apparitions  of  devils. 
But  yet  he  would  briefly  let  them  know  that  there  are 
devils  to  tempt  to  wickedness." 

Beside  this  tender  picture  we  may  place  one  of  juvenile 
warfare  in  the  godly  home  of  Judge  Sewall,  and  of  the 
effect  such  a  rise  of  the  Old  Adam  had  upon  the  soul  of 
the  conscientious  magistrate:  "Nov.  6,  1692.  Joseph 
threw  a  knob  of  Brass  and  hit  his  sister  Betty  on  the 
forhead  so  as  to  make  it  bleed  and  swell,  upon  which, 


126  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

and  for  his  playing  at  Prayer-time,  and  eating  when 
Return  Thanks,  I  whipd  him  pretty  smartly.  When  I 
first  went  in  (call'd  by  his  Grandmother)  he  sought  to 
shadow  and  hide  himself  from  me  behind  the  head  of 
the  Cradle:  which  gave  me  the  sorrowfull  remembrance 
of  Adam's  carriage."20 

Such  turmoil  was,  of  course,  unusual  in  the  Sewall  or 
any  other  Puritan  home;  but  the  spiritual  paroxysms 
of  his  daughter  Betty,  as  noted  in  previous  pages,  were 
more  characteristic,  and  probably  not  half  so  alarming 
to  the  deeply  religious  father.  There  seems  to  be  little 
"  sorrowfull  remembrance  "  in  the  following  note  by  the 
Judge;  what  would  have  caused  genuine  alarm  to  a 
modern  parent  seemed  to  be  almost  a  source  of  secret 
satisfaction  to  him:  "  Sabbath,  May  3,  1696.  Betty 
can  hardly  read  her  chapter  for  weeping;  tells  me  she  is 
afraid  she  is  gone  back,  does  not  taste  that  sweetness  in 
reading  the  Word  which  once  she  did;  fears  that  what 
was  once  upon  her  is  worn  off.  I  said  what  I  could  to 
her,  and  in  the  evening  pray'd  with  her  alone."21 

Though  more  mention  is  made  in  the  early  records 
about  the  endeavors  of  the  father  than  of  the  efforts  of 
the  mother  to  lead  the  children  aright,  we  may,  of  course, 
take  it  for  granted  that  the  maternal  care  and  watchful 
ness  were  at  least  as  strong  as  in  our  own  day.  Eliza 
Pinckney,  who  had  read  widely  and  studied  much,  did 
not  consider  it  beneath  her  dignity  to  give  her  closest 
attention  to  the  awakening  intellect  of  her  babe.  "  Shall 
I  give  you  the  trouble,  my  dear  madam,"  she  wrote  to  a 
friend,  "  to  buy  my  son  a  new  toy  (a  description  of  which 

»o  Diary:  Vol.  I,  p.  369. 
«  Vol.  I,  p.  423. 


Colonial  Woman  and  the  Home  127 

I  enclose)  to  teach  him  according  to  Mr.  Locke's  method 
(which  I  have  carefully  studied)  to  play  himself  into 
learning.  Mr.  Pinckney,  himself,  has  been  contriving 
a  sett  of  toys  to  teach  him  his  letters  by  the  time  he  can 
speak.  You  perceive  we  begin  betimes,  for  he  is  not  yet 
four  months  old."  Her  consciousness  of  her  responsi 
bility  toward  her  children  is  also  set  forth  in  this  state 
ment:  "  I  am  resolved  to  be  a  good  Mother  to  my  chil 
dren,  to  pray  for  them,  to  set  them  good  examples,  to  give 
them  good  advice,  to  be  careful  both  in  their  souls  and 
bodys,  to  watch  over  their  tender  minds,  to  carefully 
root  out  the  first  appearing  and  budings  of  vice,  and  to 
instill  piety.  ...  To  spair  no  paines  or  trouble  to  do 
them  good.  .  .  .  And  never  omit  to  encourage  every 
Virtue  I  may  see  dawning  in  them."22  That  her  care 
brought  forth  good  fruit  is  indicated  when  she  spoke, 
years  later,  of  her  boy  as  "  a  son  who  has  lived  to  near 
twenty-three  years  of  age  without  once  offending  me." 

Here  and  there  we  thus  have  direct  testimony  as  to 
the  part  taken  by  mothers  in  the  mental  and  spiritual 
training  of  children.  For  instance,  in  New  York,  accord 
ing  to  Mrs.  Grant,  such  instruction  was  left  entirely  to 
the  women.  "  Indeed,  it  was  on  the  females  that  the 
task  of  religious  instruction  generally  devolved;  and  in 
all  cases  where  the  heart  is  interested,  whoever  teaches 
at  the  same  time  learns.  .  .  .  Not  only  the  training  of 
children,  but  of  plants,  such  as  needed  peculiar  care  or 
skill  to  rear  them,  was  the  female  province."23 

In  New  England,  as  we  have  seen,  the  parental  love 
and  care  for  the  little  ones  was  at  least  as  much  a  part  of 

«Ravenel:   Eliza  Pinckney,  p.  17. 

11  Memoirs  of  an  American  Lady,  p.  29.    . 


128  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

the  father's  domestic  activities  as  of  the  mother's; 
unfortunately  the  men  were  in  the  majority  as  writers, 
and  they  generally  wrote  of  what  they  themselves  did 
for  their  children.  Abigail  Adams  was  one  of  the  excep 
tional  women,  and  her  letters  have  many  a  reference  to 
the  training  of  her  famous  son.  Writing  to  him  while  he 
was  with  his  father  in  Europe  in  1778,  she  said:  "  My 
dear  Son.  .  .  .  Let  me  enjoin  it  upon  you  to  attend  con 
stantly  and  steadfastly  to  the  precepts  and  instructions 
of  your  father,  as  you  value  the  happiness  of  your  mother 
and  your  own  welfare.  His  care  and  attention  to  you 
render  many  things  unnecessary  for  me  to  write  .  .  . 
but  the  inadvertency  and  heedlessness  of  youth  require 
line  upon  line  and  precept  upon  precept,  and,  when 
enforced  by  the  joint  efforts  of  both  parents,  will,  I 
hope,  have  a  due  influence  upon  your  conduct;  for,  dear 
as  you  are  to  me,  I  would  much  rather  you  should  have 
found  your  grave  in  the  ocean  you  have  crossed,  or  that 
an  untimely  death  crop  you  in  your  infant  years,  than 
see  you  an  immoral,  profligate,  or  graceless  child.  .  .  ,"24 
Such  quotations  should  prove  that  home  life  in  colonial 
days  was  no  one-sided  affair.  The  father  and  the  mother 
were  on  a  par  in  matters  of  child  training,  and  the 
influence  of  both  entered  into  that  strong  race  of  men 
who,  through  long  years  of  struggle  and  warfare,  wrested 
civilization  from  savagery,  and  a  new  nation  from  an  old 
one.  What  a  modern  writer  has  written  about  Mrs. 
Adams  might  possibly  be  applicable  to  many  a  colonial 
mother  who  kept  no  record  of  her  daily  effort  to  lead 
her  children  in  the  path  of  righteousness  and  noble 
service:  "  Mrs.  Adams's  influence  on  her  children  was 

»  Letters,  p.  93. 


Colonial  Woman  and  the  Home  129 

strong,  inspiring,  vital.  Something  of  the  Spartan 
mother's  spirit  breathed  in  her.  She  taught  her  sons 
and  daughter  to  be  brave  and  patient,  in  spite  of  danger 
and  privation.  She  made  them  feel  no  terror  at  the 
thought  of  death  or  hardships  suffered  for  one's  country. 
She  read  and  talked  to  them  of  the  world's  history.  .  .  . 
Every  night,  when  the  Lord's  prayer  had  been  repeated, 
she  heard  him  [John  Quincey]  say  that  ode  of  Collins 
beginning, 

'  How  sleep  the  brave  who  sink  to  rest 
By  all  their  country's  wishes  blest.'  "M 

IX.  Tributes  to  Colonial  Mothers 
With  such  wives  and  mothers  so  common  in  the  New 
World,  it  is  but  natural  that  many  a  high  tribute  to  them 
should  be  found  in  the  old  records.  Not  for  any  particu 
lar  or  exactly  named  trait  are  these  women  praised,  but 
rather  for  that  general,  indescribable  quality  of  woman 
liness  —  that  quality  which  men  have  ever  praised  and 
ever  will  praise.  Those  noble  words  of  Judge  Sewall 
at  the  open  grave  of  his  mother  are  an  epitome  of  the 
patience,  the  love,  the  sacrifice,  and  the  nobility  of 
motherhood:  "  Jany.  4th,  1700-1.  .  .  .  Nathan  Bricket 
taking  in  hand  to  fill  the  grave,  I  said,  Forbear  a  little, 
and  suffer  me  to  say  that  amidst  our  bereaving  sorrows 
we  have  the  comfort  of  beholding  this  saint  put  into  the 
rightful  possession  of  that  happiness  of  living  desir'd 
and  dying  lamented.  She  liv'd  commendably  four  and 
fifty  years  with  her  dear  husband,  and  my  dear  father: 
and  she  could  not  well  brook  the  being  divided  from  him 
at  her  death;  which  is  the  cause  of  our  taking  leave  of 

»  Brooks:  Dames  and  Daughters  of  Colonial  Days,  p.  197. 


130  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

her  in  this  place.  She  was  a  true  and  constant  lover  of 
God's  Word,  worship  and  saints:  and  she  always  with  a 
patient  cheerfulness,  submitted  to  the  divine  decree  of 
providing  bread  for  her  self  and  others  in  the  sweat  of 
her  brows.  And  now  .  .  .  my  honored  and  beloved 
Friends  and  Neighbors !  My  dear  mother  never  thought 
much  of  doing  the  most  frequent  and  homely  offices  of 
love  for  me:  and  lavished  away  many  thousands  of 
words  upon  me,  before  I  could  return  one  word  in  answer : 
And  therefore  I  ask  and  hope  that  none  will  be  offended 
that  I  have  now  ventured  to  speak  one  word  in  her 
behalf;  when  she  herself  has  now  become  speechless."28 

How  many  are  the  tributes  to  those  "  mothers  in 
Israel"!  Hear  this  unusual  one  to  Jane  Turell:  "  As 
a  wife  she  was  dutiful,  prudent  and  diligent,  not  only 
content  but  joyful  in  her  circumstances.  She  submitted 
as  is  fit  in  the  Lord,  looked  well  to  the  ways  of  her 
household.  .  .  .  She  respected  all  her  friends  and 
relatives,  and  spake  of  them  with  honor,  and  never  for 
got  either  their  counsels  or  their  kindnesses.  ...  I 
may  not  forget  to  mention  the  strong  and  constant  guard 
she  placed  on  the  door  of  her  lips.  Whoever  heard  her 
call  an  ill  name?  or  detract  from  anybody?  "27 

And,  again,  note  the  tone  of  this  message  to  Alexan 
der  Hamilton  from  his  father-in-law,  General  Philip 
Schuyler,  after  the  death  of  Mrs.  Schuyler:  "  My  trial 
has  been  severe.  .  .  .  But  after  giving  and  receiving  for 
nearly  half  a  century  a  series  of  mutual  evidences  of 
affection  and  friendship  which  increased  as  we  advanced 
in  life,  the  shock  was  great  and  sensibly  felt,  to  be  thus 

*>  Sewall:   Diary,  Vol.  II,  p.  31. 

"  Ebenezer  Turell  in  Memoirs  of  the  Life  and  Death  of  Afra.  Jane  Turell. 


Colonial   Woman  and  the  Home  131 

suddenly  deprived  of  a  beloved  wife,  the  mother  of  my 
children,  and  the  soothing  companion  of  my  declining 
years." 

The  words  of  President  Dirkland  of  Harvard  upon  the 
death  of  Mrs.  Adams,  show  how  deeply  women  had  come 
to  influence  the  life  of  New  England  by  the  time  of  the 
Revolution.  His  address  was  a  sincere  tribute  not  only 
to  this  remarkable  mother  but  to  the  thousands  of 
unknown  mothers  who  reared  their  families  through  those 
days  of  distress  and  death:  "  Ye  will  cease  to  mourn, 
bereaved  friends.  .  .  .  You  do  then  bless  the  Giver  of 
life,  that  the  course  of  your  endeared  and  honored  friend 
was  so  long  and  so  bright;  that  she  entered  so  fully 
into  the  spirit  of  those  injunctions  which  we  have  ex 
plained,  and  was  a  minister  of  blessings  to  all  within  her 
influence.  You  are  soothed  to  reflect,  that  she  was 
sensible  of  the  many  tokens  of  divine  goodness  which 
marked  her  lot;  that  she  received  the  good  of  her  exist 
ence  with  a  cheerful  and  grateful  heart;  that,  when 
called  to  weep,  she  bore  adversity  with  an  equal  mind; 
that  she  used  the  world  as  not  abusing  it  to  excess, 
improving  well  her  time,  talents,  and  opportunities, 
and,  though  desired  longer  in  this  world,  was  fitted  for  a 
better  happiness  than  this  world  can  give."28 

It  is  apparent  that  men  were  not  so  neglectful  of 
praise  nor  so  cautious  of  good  words  for  womankind  in 
colonial  days  as  the  average  run  of  books  on  American 
history  would  have  us  believe.  As  noted  above,  woman 
liness  is  the  characteristic  most  commonly  pictured 
in  these  records  of  good  women ;  but  now  and  then  some 
special  quality,  such  as  good  judgment,  or  business 

u  Letter*  of  A.  Adams,  p.  57. 


132  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

ability,  or  willingness  to  aid  in  a  time  of  crisis  is  brought 
to  light.  Thus  Ben  Franklin  writes: 

"  We  have  an  English  proverb  that  says,  '  He  that 
would  thrive  must  ask  his  wife.'  It  was  lucky  for  me 
that  I  had  one  as  much  disposed  to  industry  and  frugality 
as  myself.  She  assisted  me  chearfully  in  my  business, 
folding  and  stitching  pamphlets,  tending  shop,  pur 
chasing  old  linen  rags  for  the  paper  makers,  etc.  We 
kept  no  idle  servants,  our  table  was  plain  and  simple, 
our  furniture  of  the  cheapest.  .  .  .  One  morning  being 
call'd  to  breakfast,  I  found  it  in  a  china  bowl  with  a 
spoon  of  silver!  They  had  been  bought  for  me  without 
my  knowledge  by  my  wife.  .  .  .  She  thought  her 
husband  deserv'd  a  silver  spoon  and  china  bowl  as  well 
as  any  of  his  neighbors.  This  was  the  first  appearance 
of  plate  and  China  in  our  house,  which  afterwards  in  a 
course  of  years,  as  our  wealth  increased,  augmented 
gradually  to  several  hundred  pounds  in  value."29 

Again,  he  notes  on  going  to  England:  "  April  5,  1757. 
I  leave  Home  and  undertake  this  long  Voyage  more 
chearful,  as  I  can  rely  on  your  Prudence  in  the  Manage 
ment  of  my  Affairs,  and  education  of  my  dear  Child; 
and  yet  I  cannot  forbear  once  more  recommending  her  to 
you  with  a  Father's  tenderest  concern.  My  Love  to 
all."30 

Whether  North  or  South  the  praise  of  woman's  indus 
try  in  those  days  is  much  the  same.  John  Lawson, 
who  made  a  survey  journey  through  North  Carolina  in 
1760,  wrote  in  his  History  of  North  Carolina  that  the 
women  were  the  more  industrious  sex  in  this  section, 

*•  Letters  of  Franklin,  Vol.  I,  p.  324. 
»« Letters  of  Franklin,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  378. 


Colonial   Woman  and  the  Home  133 

and  made  a  great  deal  of  cloth  of  their  own  cotton, 
wool,  and  flax.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  their  families 
were  exceedingly  large,  he  noted  that  all  went  "  very 
decently  appareled  both  with  linens  and  woolens,"  and 
that  because  of  the  labor  of  the  wives  there  was  no  occa 
sion  to  run  into  the  merchant's  debt  or  lay  out  money 
on  stores  of  clothing.  And  hundreds  of  miles  north  old 
Judge  Sewall  had  expressed  in  his  Diary  his  utmost 
confidence  in  his  wife's  financial  ability  when  he  wrote: 
"  1703-4  .  .  .  Took  24s  in  my  pocket,  and  gave  my 
Wife  the  rest  of  my  cash  £4,  3-8  and  tell  her  she  shall 
now  keet)  the  Cash ;  if  I  want  I  will  borrow  of  her.  She 
has  a  better  faculty  than  I  at  managing  Affairs:  I  will 
assist  her;  and  will  endeavour  to  live  upon  my  salary; 
will  see  what  it  will  doe.  The  Lord  give  his  blessing."31 

And  nearly  seventy  years  later  John  Adams,  in  writing 
to  Benjamin  Rush,  declares  a  similar  confidence  in  his 
helpmeet  and  expresses  in  his  quiet  way  genuine  pride 
in  her  willingness  to  meet  all  ordeals  with  him.  "  May 
1770.  When  I  went  home  to  my  family  in  May  1770 
from  the  Town  Meeting  in  Boston  ...  I  said  to  my 
wife,  '  I  have  accepted  a  seat  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  and  thereby  have  consented  to  my  own  ruin, 
to  your  ruin,  and  to  the  ruin  of  our  children.  I  give 
you  this  warning  that  you  may  prepare  your  mind  for 
your  fate.'  She  burst  into  tears,  but  instantly  cried  in 
a  transport  of  magnanimity,  '  Well,  I  am  willing  in  this 
cause  to  run  all  risks  with  you,  and  be  ruined  with  you, 
if  you  are  ruined.'  These  were  times,  my  friend,  in 
Boston  which  tried  women's  souls  as  well  as  men's." 

Surely  men  were  not  unmindful  in  those  stern  days  of 

"  Vol.  II,  p.  93. 


134*  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

the  strength  and  devotion  of  those  women  who  bore 
them  valiant  sons  and  daughters  that  were  to  set  a 
nation  free.  And,  furthermore,  from  such  tributes 
we  may  justly  infer  that  women  of  the  type  of  Jane 
Turell,  Eliza  Pinckney,  Abigail  Adams,  Margaret 
Winthrop,  and  Martha  Washington  were  wives  and 
mothers  who,  above  all  else,  possessed  womanly  dignity, 
loved  their  homes,  yet  sacrificed  much  of  the  happiness 
of  this  beloved  home  life  for  the  welfare  of  the  public, 
were  "  virtuous,  pious,  modest,  and  womanly,"  built 
homes  wherein  were  peace,  gentleness,  and  love,  havens 
indeed  for  their  famous  husbands,  who  in  times  of  great 
national  woes  could  cast  aside  the  burdens  of  public 
life,  and  retire  to  the  rest  so  well  deserved.  As  the 
author  of  Catherine  Schuyler  has  so  fittingly  said  of  the 
home  life  of  her  and  her  daughter,  the  wife  of  Hamilton : 
"  Their  homes  were  centers  of  peace;  their  material 
considerations  guarded.  Whatever  strength  they  had 
was  for  the  fray.  No  men  were  ever  better  entrenched 
for  political  conflict  than  Schuyler  and  Hamilton.  .  .  . 
The  affectionate  intercourse  between  children,  parents, 
and  grand-parents  reflected  in  all  the  correspondence 
accessible  makes  an  effective  contrast  to  the  feverish 
state  of  public  opinion  and  the  controversies  then 
raging.  Nowhere  would  one  find  a  more  ideal  illustra 
tion  of  the  place  home  and  family  ties  should  supply  as 
an  alleviation  for  the  turmoils  and  disappointments  of 
public  life."32 

There  are  scores  of  others  —  Mercy  Warren,  Mrs. 
Knox,  and  women  of  their  type  —  whose  benign  influ 
ence  in  the  colonial  home  could  be  cited.  One  could 

M  Humphrey:  Cathtrine  Schuyler.  p.  228. 


Colonial  Woman  and  the  Home  135 

scarcely  overestimate  the  value  of  the  loving  care, 
forethought,  and  sympathy  of  those  wives  and  mothers 
of  long  ago;  for  if  all  were  known,  —  and  we  should  be 
happy  that  in  those  days  some  phases  of  home  life  were 
considered  too  sacred  to  be  revealed  —  perhaps  we 
should  conclude  that  the  achievements  of  those  famous 
founders  of  this  nation  were  due  as  much  to  their  wives 
as  to  their  own  native  powers.  The  charming  mingling 
of  simplicity  and  dignity  is  a  trait  of  those  women  that 
has  often  been  noted;  they  lived  such  heroic  lives  with 
such  unconscious  patience  and  valor.  For  instance, 
hear  the  description  of  Mrs.  Washington  as  given  by  one 
of  the  ladies  at  the  camp  of  Morristown ;  —  with  what 
simplicity  of  manner  the  first  lady  of  the  land  aided  in  a 
time  of  distress: 

"  Well,  I  will  honestly  tell  you,  I  never  was  so  ashamed 
in  all  my  life.  You  see,  Madame  -  — ,  and  Madame 

— ,  and  Madame  Budd,  and  myself  thought  we  would 
visit  Lady  Washington,  and  as  she  was  said  to  be  so 
grand  a  lady,  we  thought  we  must  put  on  our  best  bibbs 
and  bands.  So  we  dressed  ourselfes  in  our  most  elegant 
ruffles  and  silks,  and  were  introduced  to  her  ladyship. 
And  don't  you  think  we  found  her  knitting  and  with  a 
speckled  (check)  apron  on\  She  received  us  very  gra 
ciously,  and  easily,  but  after  the  compliments  were  over, 
she  resumed  her  knitting.  There  we  were  without  a 
stitch  of  work,  and  sitting  in  State,  but  General  Wash 
ington's  lady  with  her  own  hands  was  knitting  stockings 
for  herself  and  husband! 

"  And  that  was  not  all.  In  the  afternoon  her  lady 
ship  took  occasion  to  say,  in  a  way  that  we  could  not  be 
offended  at,  that  it  was  very  important,  at  this  time, 


136  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

that  American  ladies  should  be  patterns  of  industry  to 
their  countrywomen,  because  the  separation  from  the 
mother  country  will  dry  up  the  sources  whence  many  of 
our  comforts  have  been  derived.  We  must  become 
independent  by  our  determination  to  do  without  what 
we  cannot  make  ourselves.  Whilst  our  husbands  and 
brothers  are  examples  of  patriotism,  we  must  be  pat 
terns  of  industry."33 

X.     Interest  in  the  Home 

Many  indeed  are  the  hints  of  gentle,  loving  home  life 
presented  in  the  letters  and  records  of  the  eighteenth 
century  colonists.  Domestic  life  may  have  been  rather 
severe  in  seventeenth  century  New  England  —  our 
histories  make  more  of  it  than  the  original  sources  war 
rant  —  but  the  little  touches  of  courtesy,  the  con 
siderate  deeds  of  love,  the  words  of  sympathy  and 
confidence  show  that  those  early  husbands  and  wives 
were  lovers  even  as  many  modern  folk  are  lovers,  and 
that  in  the  century  of  the  Revolution  they  courted  and 
married  and  laughed  and  sorrowed  much  as  we  of  the 
twentieth  century  do.  Sometimes  the  hint  is  in  a  letter 
from  brother  to  sister,  sometimes  in  the  message  from 
patriot  to  wife,  sometimes  in  the  secret  diary  of  mother 
or  father;  but,  wherever  found,  the  words  with  their 
subtle  meaning  make  us  realize  almost  with  a  shock 
that  here  were  human  hearts  as  much  alive  to  joy  and 
anguish  as  any  that  now  beat.  Hear  a  message  from  the 
practical  Franklin  to  his  sister  in  1772:  "  I  have  been 
thinking  what  would  be  a  suitable  present  for  me  to 
make  and  for  you  to  receive,  as  I  hear  you  are  grown  a 

«  Wharton:   Martha  Washington,  p.  116. 


Colonial  Woman  and  the  Home  137 

celebrated  beauty.  I  had  almost  determined  on  a 
tea  table,  but  when  I  considered  that  the  character  of  a 
good  housewife  was  far  preferable  to  that  of  being  only 
a  gentle  woman,  I  concluded  to  send  you  a  spinning 
wheel."34 

And  see  in  these  notes  from  him  in  London  to  his  wife 
the  interest  of  the  philosopher  and  statesman  in  his 
home  —  his  human  longing  that  it  should  be  comforta 
ble  and  beautiful.  "  In  the  great  Case  ...  is  contained 
some  carpeting  for  a  best  Room  Floor.  There  is  enough 
for  one  large  or  two  small  ones;  it  is  to  be  sow'd  together, 
the  Edges  being  first  fell'd  down,  and  Care  taken  to 
make  the  Figures  meet  exactly:  there  is  Bordering  for 
the  same.  This  was  my  Fancy.  Also  two  large  fine 
Flanders  Bed  Ticks,  and  two  pair  large  superfine  Blank 
ets,  2  fine  Damask  Table  Cloths  and  Napkins,  and  43 
Ells  of  Ghentish  Sheeting  Holland.  .  .  .  There  is  also 
56  Yards  of  Cotton,  printed  curiously  from  Copper 
Plates,  a  new  Invention,  to  make  Bed  and  Window 
Curtains;  and  7  yards  Chair  Bottoms.  .  .  ,"35 

"  The  same  box  contains  4  Silver  Salt  Ladles,  newest, 
but  ugliest  Fashion;  a  little  Instrument  to  core  Apples; 
another  to  make  little  Turnips  out  of  great  ones;  six 
coarse  diaper  Breakfast  Cloths,  they  are  to  spread  on  the 
Tea  Table,  for  nobody  Breakfasts  here  on  the  naked 
Table;  but  on  the  cloth  set  a  large  Tea  Board  with  the 
Cups.  .  .  ."  "London,  Feb.  14,  1765.  Mrs.  Steven 
son  has  sent  you  .  .  .  Blankets,  Bedticks.  .  .  .  The 
blue  Mohair  Stuff  is  for  the  Curtains  of  the  Blue  Cham 
ber.  The  Fashion  is  to  make  one  Curtain  only  for  each 

"  Smyth:   Writings  of  B.  Franklin,  Vol.  II,  p.  87. 
«  Smyth:   Writings  of  B.  Franklin,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  431. 


138  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

Window.  Hooks  are  sent  to  fix  the  Rails  by  at  the  Top 
so  that  they  might  be  taken  down  on  Occasion.  .  .  ,"36 

It  does  the  soul  good  and  warms  the  heart  toward 
old  Benjamin  to  see  him  stopping  in  the  midst  of  his 
labors  for  America  to  write  his  wife:  "  I  send  you  some 
curious  Beans  for  your  Garden,"  and  "  The  apples  are 
extreamly  welcome,  .  .  .  the  minced  pies  are  not  yet 
come  to  hand.  ...  As  to  our  lodging  [she  had  evi 
dently  inquired]  it  is  on  deal  featherbeds,  in  warm 
blankets,  and  much  more  comfortable  than  when  we 
lodged  at  our  inn.  .  .  ,"37 

Surely,  too,  the  home  touch  is  in  this  message  of 
Thomas  Jefferson  at  Paris  to  Mrs.  Adams  in  London. 
After  telling  her  how  happy  he  was  to  order  shoes  for 
her  in  the  French  capital,  he  continues:  "  To  show  you 
how  willingly  I  shall  ever  receive  and  execute  your 
commissions,  I  venture  to  impose  one  upon  you.  From 
what  I  recollect  of  the  diaper  and  damask  we  used  to 
import  from  England,  I  think  they  were  better  and 
cheaper  than  here.  ...  If  you  are  of  the  same  opinion 
I  would  trouble  you  to  send  me  two  sets  of  table  cloths 
&  napkins  for  twenty  covers  each."38  And  again  he 
turns  aside  from  his  heavy  duties  in  France  to  write  his 
sister  that  he  has  sent  her  "  two  pieces  of  linen,  three 
gowns,  and  some  ribbon.  They  are  done  in  paper, 
sealed  and  packed  in  a  trunk."39 

And  what  of  old  Judge  Sewall  of  the  previous  century 
—  he  of  a  number  of  wives  and  innumerable  children? 
Even  in  his  day,  when  Puritanism  was  at  its  worst,  or 

*>  Smyth:   Writings  of  Franklin,  Vol.  IV,  p.  359. 
"  Smyth:    Writings  of  Franklin,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  325. 
18  Ford:    Writings  of  Jefferson,  Vol.  IV,  p.  101. 
«•  Ibid,  Vol.  IV,  p.  208. 


Colonial   Woman  and  the  Home  139 

as  he  would  say,  at  its  best,  acts  of  thoughtfulness  and 
mutual  love  between  man  and  wife  were  apparently  not 
forgotten.  The  wonderful  Diary  offers  the  proof: 
"  June  20,  1685:  Carried  my  Wife  to  Dorchester  to  eat 
Cherries,  Raspberries,  chiefly  to  ride  and  take  the  Air. 
The  time  my  Wife  and  Mrs.  Flint  spent  in  the  Orchard, 
I  spent  in  Mr.  Flint's  Study,  reading  Calvin  on  the 
Psalms.  .  .  ."40  "July  8,  1687.  Carried  my  wife  to 
Cambridge  to  visit  my  little  Cousin  Margaret.  .  .  ."41 
"  I  carry  my  two  sons  and  three  daughters  in  the 
Coach  to  Danford,  the  Turks  head  at  Dorchester;  eat 
sage  Cheese,  drunk  Beer  and  Cider  and  came  home 
ward.  .  .  .'J42 

Thus  human  were  those  grave  fathers  of  the  nation. 
History  and  fiction  often  conspire  to  portray  them  as 
always  walking  with  solemnity,  talking  with  deep  serious 
ness,  and  looking  upon  all  mortals  and  all  things  with 
chilling  gloom;  but,  after  all,  they  seem,  in  domestic 
life  at  least,  to  have  gone  about  their  daily  round  of 
duties  and  pleasures  in  much  the  same  spirit  as  we,  their 
descendants,  work  and  play.  As  Wharton  in  her 
Through  Colonial  Doorways  says:  "  The  dignified 
Washington  becomes  to  us  a  more  approachable  per 
sonality  when,  in  a  letter  written  by  Mrs.  John  M. 
Bowers,  we  read  that  when  she  was  a  child  of  six  he 
dandled  her  on  his  knee  and  sang  to  her  about  '  the 
old,  old  man  and  the  old,  old  woman  who  lived  in  the 
vinegar  bottle  together/  ...  or  again,  when  General 
Greene  writes  from  Middlebrook,  '  We  had  a  little 
dance  at  my  quarters.  His  Excellency  and  Mrs.  Greene 

««  Vol.  I,  p.  83. 

«  Ibid,  Vol.  I,  p.  170. 

"  Ibid,  Vol.  I,  p.  492. 


140  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

danced   upwards  of  three  hours   without   once   sitting 
down.     Upon  the  whole  we  had  a  pretty  little  frisk." 

And  does  not  John  Adams  lose  some  of  his  aloofness 
when  we  see  the  picture  his  wife  draws  of  him,  submitting 
to  be  driven  about  the  room  by  means  of  a  switch  in  the 
hands  of  his  little  grandchild?  In  the  eighteenth 
century  home  life  was  evidently  just  as  free  from  unneces 
sary  dignity  as  it  is  to-day,  and  possibly  wives  had  even 
more  genuine  affection  and  esteem  for  their  husbands 
than  is  the  case  in  the  twentieth  century.  Mrs.  Wash 
ington's  quiet  rebuke  to  her  daughter  and  some  lady 
guests  who  came  down  to  breakfast  in  dressing  gowns  and 
curl  papers,  may  be  cited  as  at  least  one  proof  of  con 
sideration  for  the  husband.  Seeing  some  French  officers 
approaching  the  house,  the  young  people  begged  to  be 
excused;  but  Mrs.  Washington  shook  her  head  decisively 
and  answered,  "  No,  what  is  good  enough  for  General 
Washington  is  good  enough  for  any  of  his  guests." 
Indeed  much  of  this  famous  man's  success  must  be 
attributed  to  the  noble  encouragement,  the  considerate- 
ness,  and  the  unsparing  industry  of  his  wife.  The  story 
is  often  told  of  how  the  painter,  Peale,  when  he  hesitated 
to  call  at  seven  in  the  morning,  the  hour  for  the  first 
sitting  for  her  portrait,  found  that  even  then  she  had 
already  attended  morning  worship,  had  given  her  niece 
a  music  lesson,  and  had  read  the  newspaper. 

Brooke  in  Dames  and  Daughters  of  Colonial  Days 
furnishes  another  example  of  the  kindly  consideration 
so  common  among  colonial  husbands  and  wives.  Mrs. 
John  Adams,  who  was  afflicted  with  headaches,  believed 
that  green  tea  brought  relief,  and  wrote  her  husband  to 
send  her  a  canister.  Some  time  afterwards  she  visited 


Colonial  Woman  and  the  Home  141 

Mrs.  Samuel  Adams,  who  refreshed  her  with  this  very 
drink : 

"  '  The  scarcity  of  the  article  made  me  ask  where  she 
got  it.  She  replied  that  her  sweetheart  sent  it  to  her 
by  Mr.  Gerry.  I  said  nothing,  but  thought  my  sweet 
heart  might  have  been  equally  kind  considering  the 
disease  I  was  visited  with,  and  that  was  recommended 
as  a  bracer." 

"  But  in  reality  '  Goodman  '  John  had  not  been  so 
unfeeling  as  he  appeared.  For  when  he  read  his  wife's 
mention  of  that  pain  in  her  head  he  had  been  properly 
concerned  and  straightway,  he  says,  '  asked  Mrs.  Yard 
to  send  a  pound  of  green  tea  to  you  by  Mr.  Gerry.' 
Mrs.  Yard  readily  agreed.  '  When  I  came  home  at 
night,'  continues  the  much  t  vexed  '  John,  '  I  was  told 
Mr.  Gerry  was  gone.  I  asked  Mrs.  Yard  if  she  had  sent 
the  canister.  She  said  Yes  and  that  Mr.  Gerry  under 
took  to  deliver  it  with  a  great  deal  of  pleasure.  From 
that  time  I  flattered  myself  you  would  have  the  poor 
relief  of  a  dish  of  good  tea,  and  I  never  conceived  a  single 
doubt  that  you  had  received  it  until  Mr.  Gerry's  return. 
I  asked  him  accidently  whether  he  had  delivered  it, 
and  he  said,  '  Yes;  to  Mr.  Samuel  Adams's  lady.'  "43 

American  letters  of  the  eighteenth  century  abound 
in  expressions  of  love  and  in  mention  of  gifts  sent  home 
as  tokens  of  that  love.  Thus,  Mrs.  Washington  writes 
her  brother  in  1778:  "  Please  to  give  little  Patty  a  kiss 
for  me.  I  have  sent  her  a  pair  of  shoes  —  there  was  not 
a  doll  to  be  got  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  or  I  would 
have  sent  her  one  (the  shoes  are  in  a  bundle  for  my 
mamma)."44  And  again  from  New  York  in  1789  she 

«  Pp.  188-9. 

"  Wharton:    M.  Washington,  p.  127. 


142  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

writes:  "  I  have  by  Mrs.  Sims  sent  for  a  watch,  it  is  one 
of  the  cargoe  that  I  have  so  often  mentioned  to  you, 
that  was  expected,  I  hope  is  such  a  one  as  will  please 
you  —  it  is  of  the  newest  fashion,  if  that  has  any  influ 
ence  in  your  taste.  .  .  .  The  chain  is  of  Mr.  Lear's 
choosing  and  such  as  Mrs.  Adams  the  vice  President's 
Lady  and  those  in  the  polite  circle  wares  and  will  last 
as  long  as  the  fashion  —  and  by  that  time  you  can  get 
another  of  a  fashionable  kind  —  I  send  to  dear  Maria  a 
piece  of  chintz  to  make  her  a  frock  —  the  piece  of  muslin 
I  hope  is  long  enough  for  an  apron  for  you,  and  in 
exchange  for  it,  I  beg  you  will  give  me  the  worked  muslin 
apron  you  have  like  my  gown  that  I  made  just  before  I 
left  home  of  worked  muslin  as  I  wish  to  make  a  petti 
coat  of  the  two  aprons,  —  for  my  gown  .  .  .  kiss  Maria 
I  send  her  two  little  handkerchiefs  to  wipe  her  nose.  .  ,"45 

XL     Woman's  Sphere 

With  all  their  evidence  of  love  and  confidence  in  their 
wives,  these  colonial  gentlemen  were  not,  however, 
especially  anxious  to  have  womankind  dabble  in  politics 
or  other  public  affairs.  The  husbands  were  willing 
enough  to  explain  public  activities  of  a  grave  nature  to 
their  helpmeets,  and  sometimes  even  asked  their  opinion 
on  proposed  movements;  but  the  men  did  not  hesitate 
to  think  aloud  the  theories  that  the  home  was  woman's 
sphere  and  domestic  duties  her  best  activities.  Gover 
nor  Winthrop  spoke  in  no  uncertain  terms  for  the 
seventeenth  century  when  he  wrote  the  following  brief 
note  in  his  History  of  New  England: 

(1645)     "  Mr.  Hopkins,  the   governour  of  Hartford 

«  Wharton:   Martha  Washington,  p.  205. 


Colonial  Woman  and  the  Home  143 

upon  Connecticut,  came  to  Boston  and  brought  his  wife 
with  him  (a  godly  young  woman,  and  of  special  parts), 
who  was  fallen  into  a  sad  infirmity,  the  loss  of  her  under 
standing  and  reason,  which  had  been  growing  upon  her 
divers  years,  by  occasion  of  her  giving  herself  wholly  to 
reading  and  writing,  and  had  written  many  books. 
If  she  had  attended  to  her  household  affairs,  and  such 
things  as  belong  to  women,  and  not  gone  out  of  her  way 
and  calling  to  meddle  in  such  things  as  are  proper  for 
men,  whose  minds  are  stronger,  etc.,  she  had  kept  her 
wits,  and  might  have  improved  them  usefully  and 
honorably  in  the  place  God  had  set  her." 

Thomas  Jefferson,  writing  from  Paris  in  1788  to  Mrs. 
Bingham,  spoke  in  less  positive  language  but  perhaps 
just  as  clearly  the  opinion  of  the  eighteenth  century: 
"  The  gay  and  thoughtless  Paris  is  now  become  a  furnace 
of  politics.  Men,  women,  children  talk  nothing  else 
&  you  know  that  naturally  they  talk  much,  loud  & 
warm.  .  .  .  You  too  have  had  your  political  fever. 
But  our  good  ladies,  I  trust,  have  been  too  wise  to  wrinkle 
their  foreheads  with  politics.  They  are  contented  to 
soothe  &  calm  the  minds  of  their  husbands  returning 
ruffled  from  political  debate.  They  have  the  good  sense 
to  value  domestic  happiness  above  all  others.  There  is 
no  part  of  the  earth  where  so  much  of  this  is  enjoyed  as  in 
America.  You  agree  with  me  in  this;  but  you  think  that 
the  pleasures  of  Paris  more  than  supply  its  wants; 
in  other  words,  that  a  Parisian  is  happier  than  an 
American.  You  will  change  your  opinion,  my  dear 
madam,  and  come  over  to  mine  in  the  end.  Recollect 
the  women  of  this  capital,  some  on  foot,  some  on  horses, 
&  some  in  carriages  hunting  pleasure  in  the  streets  in 


144  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

routes,  assemblies,  &  forgetting  that  they  have  left  it 
behind  them  in  their  nurseries  &  compare  them  with  our 
own  country  women  occupied  in  the  tender  and  tranquil 
amusements  of  domestic  life,  and  confess  that  it  is  a 
comparison  of  Americans  and  angels."46 

And  Franklin  writes  thus  to  his  wife  from  London  in 
1758:  "  You  are  very  prudent  not  to  engage  in  party 
Disputes.  Women  never  should  meddle  with  them  ex 
cept  in  Endeavors  to  reconcile  their  Husbands,  Brothers, 
and  Friends,  who  happen  to  be  of  contrary  Sides.  If 
your  Sex  can  keep  cool,  you  may  be  a  means  of  cooling 
ours  the  sooner,  and  restoring  more  speedily  that  social 
Harmony  among  Fellow  Citizens  that  is  so  desirable 
after  long  and  bitter  Dissension."47  Again,  he  writes 
thus  to  his  sister:  "  Remember  that  modesty,  as  it 
makes  the  most  homely  virgin  amiable  and  charming, 
so  the  want  of  it  infallably  renders  the  perfect  beauty 
disagreeable  and  odious.  But  when  that  brightest  of 
female  virtues  shines  among  other  perfections  of  body 
and  mind  in  the  same  mind,  it  makes  the  woman  more 
lovely  than  angels."48 

What  seems  rather  strange  to  the  twentieth  century 
American,  the  women  of  colonial  days  apparently  agreed 
with  such  views.  So  few  avenues  of  activity  outside  the 
home  had  ever  been  open  to  them  that  they  may  have 
considered  it  unnatural  to  desire  other  forms  of  work; 
but,  be  that  as  it  may,  there  are  exceedingly  few  instances 
in  those  days,  of  neglect  of  home  for  the  sake  of  a  career 
in  public  work.  Abigail  Adams  frequently  expressed  it 
as  her  belief  that  a  woman's  first  business  was  to  help 

«  Ford:    Writings  of  Jefferson,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  8. 

«  Smyth:    Writings  of  Franklin,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  438. 

«7Wd,  Vol.  II.  p.  87. 


Colonial  Woman  and  the  Home  145 

her  husband,  and  that  a  wife  should  desire  no  greater 
pleasure.  "  To  be  the  strength,  the  inmost  joy,  of  a 
man  who  within  the  conditions  of  his  life  seems  to  you  a 
hero  at  every  turn  —  there  is  no  happiness  more  pene 
trating  for  a  wife  than  this."49 

Women  like  Eliza  Pinckney,  Mercy  Warren,  Jane 
Turell,  Margaret  Winthrop,  Catherine  Schuyler,  and 
Elizabeth  Hamilton  most  certainly  believed  this,  and 
their  lives  and  the  careers  of  their  husbands  testify  to 
the  success  of  such  womanly  endeavors.  Mercy  Warren 
was  a  writer  of  considerable  talent,  author  of  some  rather 
widely  read  verse,  and  of  a  History  of  the  Revolution; 
but  such  literary  efforts  did  not  hinder  her  from  doing 
her  best  for  husband  and  children;  while  Eliza  Pinck 
ney,  with  all  her  wide  reading,  study  of  philosophy, 
agricultural  investigations,  experiments  in  the  produc 
tion  of  indigo  and  silk,  was  first  of  all  a  genuine  home- 
maker.  In  fact,  some  times  the  manner  in  which  these 
true-hearted  women  stood  by  their  husbands,  whether 
in  prosperity  or  adversity,  has  a  touch  of  the  tragic  in 
it.  Beautiful  Peggy  Shippen,  for  instance,  wife  of 
Benedict  Arnold  —  what  a  life  of  distress  was  hers ! 
Little  more  than  a  year  of  married  life  had  passed  when 
the  disgrace  fell  upon  her.  Hamilton  in  a  letter  to  his 
future  wife  tells  how  Mrs.  Arnold  received  the  news  of 
her  husband's  guilt:  "  She  for  a  considerable  time 
entirely  lost  her  self  control.  The  General  went  up  to 
see  her.  She  upbraided  him  with  being  in  a  plot  to 
murder  her  child.  One  moment  she  raved,  another  she 
melted  into  tears.  Sometimes  she  pressed  her  infant  to 
her  bosom  and  lamented  its  fate,  occasioned  by  the 

•  Wharton:   Martha  Washington,  p.  86. 


146  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

imprudence  of  its  father,  in  a  manner  that  would  have 
pierced  insensibility  itself."  "  Could  I  forgive  Arnold 
for  sacrificing  his  honor,  reputation,  duty,  I  could  not 
forgive  him  for  acting  a  part  that  must  have  forfeited 
the  esteem  of  so  fine  a  woman.  At  present  she  almost 
forgets  his  crime  in  his  misfortunes;  and  her  horror  at 
the  guilt  of  the  traitor  is  lost  in  her  love  of  the  man."50 

Her  friends  whispered  it  about  New  York  and  Phila 
delphia  that  she  would  gladly  forsake  her  husband  and 
return  to  her  father's  home;  but  there  is  absolutely  no 
proof  of  the  truth  of  such  a  statement,  and  it  was  prob 
ably  passed  about  to  protect  her  family.  No  such 
choice,  however,  was  given  her;  for  within  a  month 
there  came  to  her  an  official  notice  that  decisively  settled 
the  matter: 

"  IN  COUNCIL 
"  Philadelphia,  Friday,  Oct.  27,  1780. 

"  The  Council  taking  into  consideration  the  case  of 
Mrs.  Margaret  Arnold  (the  wife  of  Benedict  Arnold,  an 
attainted  traitor  with  the  enemy  at  New  York),  whose 
residence  in  this  city  has  become  dangerous  to  the  public 
safety,  and  this  Board  being  desirous  as  much  as  possible 
to  prevent  any  correspondence  and  intercourse  being 
carried  on  with  persons  of  disaffected  character  in  this 
State  and  the  enemy  at  New  York,  and  especially  with 
the  said  Benedict  Arnold:  therefore 

"  RESOLVED,  That  the  said  Margaret  Arnold  depart 
this  State  within  fourteen  days  from  the  date  hereof, 
and  that  she  do  not  return  again  during  the  continuance 
of  the  present  war." 

It  is  highly  probable  that  she  would  ultimately  have 

»  Humphrey:   Catherine  Schuyler,  p.  183. 


Colonial  Woman  and  the  Home  147 

followed  her  husband,  anyhow;  but  this  notice  caused 
her  to  join  him  immediately  in  New  York,  and  from  this 
time  forth  she  was  ever  with  him,  bore  him  four  children, 
and  was  his  only  real  friend  and  comforter  throughout 
the  remainder  of  his  life. 

XII.     Women  in  Business 

Despite  the  popular  theory  about  woman's  sphere, 
men  of  the  day  frequently  trusted  business  affairs  to  her. 
A  number  of  times  we  have  noted  the  references  to  the 
confidence  of  colonial  husbands  in  their  wives'  bravery, 
shrewdness,  and  general  ability.  Such  belief  went 
beyond  mere  words;  it  was  not  infrequently  expressed 
in  the  freedom  granted  the  woman  in  business  affairs 
during  the  absence  of  the  husband.  More  will  be  said 
later  about  the  capacity  of  the  colonial  woman  to  take 
the  initiative;  but  a  few  instances  may  be  cited  at  this 
point  to  show  how  genuinely  important  affairs  were 
often  intrusted  to  the  women  for  long  periods  of  time. 
We  have  seen  Sewall's  comment  concerning  the  financial 
ability  of  his  wife,  and  have  heard  Franklin's  declara 
tion  that  he  was  the  more  content  to  be  absent  some 
time  because  of  the  business  sense  of  Mrs.  Franklin. 
Indeed,  several  letters  from  Franklin  indicate  his  confi 
dence  in  her  skill  in  such  affairs.  In  1756,  while  on  a  trip 
through  the  colonies,  he  wrote  her:  "  If  you  have  not 
Cash  sufficient,  call  upon  Mr.  Moore,  the  Treasurer,  with 
that  Order  of  the  Assembly,  and  desire  him  to  pay  you 
£100  of  it.  ...  I  hope  in  a  fortnight  ...  to  make  a 
Trip  to  Philadelphia,  and  send  away  the  Lottery  Tickets. 
.  .  .  and  pay  off  the  Prizes,  etc.,  tho'  you  may  pay  such 
as  come  to  hand  of  those  sold  in  Philadelphia,  of  my 


148  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

signing.  ...  I  hope  you  have  paid  Mrs.  Stephens  for 
the  Bills."61 

Again,  in  1767,  he  writes  her  concerning  the  marriage 
of  their  daughter:  "  London,  June  22.  ...  It  seems 
now  as  if  I  should  stay  here  another  Winter,  and  therefore 
I  must  leave  it  to  your  Judgment  to  act  in  the  Affair  of 
your  Daughter's  Match,  as  shall  seem  best.  If  you  think 
it  a  suitable  one,  I  suppose  the  sooner  it  is  compleated 
the  better.  ...  I  know  very  little  of  the  Gentleman 
[Richard  Bache]  or  his  Character,  nor  can  I  at  this 
Distance.  I  hope  his  expectations  are  not  great  of  any 
Fortune  to  be  had  with  our  Daughter  before  our  Death. 
I  can  only  say,  that  if  he  proves  a  good  Husband  to  her, 
and  a  good  Son  to  me,  he  shall  find  me  as  good  a  Father 
as  I  can  be:  —  but  at  present  I  suppose  you  would  agree 
with  me,  that  we  cannot  do  more  than  fit  her  out  hand 
somely  in  Cloaths  and  Furniture,  not  exceeding  the  whole 
Five  Hundred  Pounds  of  Value.  For  the  rest,  they  must 
depend  as  you  and  I  did,  on  their  own  Industry  and  Care: 
as  what  remains  in  our  Hands  will  be  barely  sufficient 
for  our  Support,  and  not  enough  for  them  when  it  comes 
to  be  divided  at  our  Decease.  .  .  ."52 

Much  has  been  written  of  the  shrewdness,  careful 
ness,  industry,  as  well  as  general  womanliness  of  Abigail 
Adams.  For  years  she  was  deprived  of  her  husband's 
presence  and  help;  but  under  circumstances  that  at 
times  must  have  been  appalling,  she  not  only  kept  her 
family  in  comfort,  but  by  her  practical  judgment  laid 
the  foundation  for  that  easy  condition  of  life  in  which 
she  and  her  husband  spent  their  later  years.  But  there 

«  Smyth:   Writings  of  Franklin,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  323. 
«  Smyth:   Writings  of  Franklin,  Vol.  I,  p.  31. 


Colonial  Woman  and  the  Home  149 

were  days  when  she  evidently  knew  not  which  way  to 
turn  for  relief  from  real  financial  distress.  In  1779  she 
wrote  to  her  husband:  "  The  safest  way,  you  tell  me, 
of  supplying  my  wants  is  by  drafts;  but  I  cannot  get 
hard  money  for  bills.  You  had  as  good  tell  me  to  pro 
cure  diamonds  for  them;  and,  when  bills  will  fetch  but 
five  for  one,  hard  money  will  exchange  ten,  which  I 
think  is  very  provoking ;  and  I  must  give  at  the  rate  of 
ten  and  sometimes  twenty  for  one,  for  every  article  I 
purchase.  I  blush  while  I  give  you  a  price  current;  — 
all  butcher's  meat  from  a  dollar  to  eight  shillings  per 
pound:  corn  is  twenty-five  dollars;  rye  thirty  per 
bushel;  flour  fifty  pounds  per  hundred;  potatoes  ten 
dollars  per  bushel;  butter  twelve  shillings  a  pound; 
sugar  twelve  shillings  a  pound;  molasses  twelve  dollars 
per  gallon;  ...  I  have  studied  and  do  study  every 
method  of  economy  in  my  power;  otherwise  a  mint  of 
money  would  not  support  a  family."53 

Thus  we  have  had  a  rather  varied  group  of  views  of 
home  life  in  colonial  days.  In  public  there  may  have 
been  a  certain  primness  or  aloofness  in  the  relations  of 
man  and  woman,  but  it  would  seem  that  in  the  home 
there  was  at  least  as  much  tender  affection  and  mutual 
confidence  as  in  the  modern  family.  In  all  probability, 
wives  and  mothers  gave  much  closer  heed  to  the  needs 
and  tastes  of  husbands  and  children  than  is  the  case 
to-day;  for  woman's  only  sphere  in  that  period  was  her 
home,  and  her  whole  heart  and  soul  were  in  its  success. 
Probably,  too,  women  more  thoroughly  believed  then 
that  her  chief  mission  jn  ]jfa  was  to  aid  fromq  n^^jr^hia, 
public  affairs  by  keeping  always  in  preparation  for  him  a 

"  Letters  of  A.  ~Adams,  p.  104. 


150  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

haven  ofjjomfort,  peace,  and  love.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  father  of  colonial"  days  undoubtedly  gave  much 
more  attention  to  the  rearing  and  training  of  his  chil 
dren  than  does  the  modern  father;  for  the  present  public 
school  has  largely  lessened  the  responsibilities  of  parent 
hood.  Both  husband  and  wife  were  much  more  "  home 
bodies  "  than  are  the  modern  couple.  There  were  but 
few  attractions  to  draw  the  husband  away  from  the 
family  hearth  at  night,  and  hard  physical  labor,  far  more 
common  than  now,  made  the  restful  home  evenings  and 
Sundays  exceedingly  welcome. 

Due  to  the  crude  household  implements  and  the  large 
families,  the  wife  and  mother  undoubtedly  endured  far 
more  physical  strain  and  hardships  than  fall  to  the  lot  of 
the  modern  woman.  The  life  of  colonial  woman, 
with  the  incessant  child-bearing  and  preparation  of  a 
multitude  of  things  now  made  in  factories,  probably 
wasted  an  undue  amount  of  nervous  energy;  but  it  is 
doubtful  whether  the  modern  woman,  with  her  numerous 
outside  activities  and  nerve-racking  social  requirements 
has  any  advantage  in  this  phase  of  the  matter.  The 
//colonial  wife  was  indeed  a  power  in  the  affairs  of  home, 
/  and  thus  indirectly  exerted  a  genuine  influence  over  her 
husband.  And  not  only  the  mother  but  the  father  was 
vitally  interested  in  domestic  affairs  that  many  a  man 
of  to-day,  and  many  a  woman  too,  would  consider  too 
petty  for  their  attention. 

In  spite  of  all  the  colonial  disadvantages,  as  we  view 
them,  it  seems  undeniably  true  that  those  wives  who  have 
left  any  written  record  of  their  lives  were  truly  happy. 
Perhaps  their  intensely  busy  existence  left  them  but 
little  time  to  brood  over  wrongs  or  fancied  ills;  more 


Colonial  Woman  and  the  Home  151 

probably  their  deep  love  for  the  strong,  level-headed  and 
generally  clean-hearted  men  who  established  this  nation 
made  life  exceedingly  worth  while.  Surely,  the  sanity, 
order,  and  stability  of  those  homes  of  long  ago  have  had 
much  to  do  with  the  physical  and  moral  excellence  that 
have  been  so  generally  characteristic  of  the  American 
people. 


CHAPTER  IV 
COLONIAL  WOMAN  AND  DRESS 

I.     Dress  Regulation  by  Law 

Who  would  think  of  writing  a  book  on  woman  without 
including  some  description  of  dress?  Apparently  the 
colonial  woman,  like  her  modern  sister,  found  beautiful 
\  clothing  a  subject  near  and  dear  to  the  heart;  but 
evidently  the  feminine  nature  of  those  old  days  did  not 
have  such  hunger  so  quickly  or  so  thoroughly  answered 
as  in  our  own  times.  The  subject  certainly  did  not  then 
receive  the  printed  notice  now  granted  it,  and  it  is  rather 
'•  clear  that  a  much  smaller  proportion  of  the  bread  win 
ner's  income  was  used  on  gay  apparel.  And  yet  we  shall 
note  the  same  hue  and  cry  among  colonial  men  that  we 
may  hear  to-day  —  that  women  are  dress-crazy,  and 
that  the  manner  and  expense  of  woman's  dress  are 
responsible  for  much  of  the  evil  of  the  world. 

We  should  not  be  greatly  surprised,  then,  to  discover 
that  early  in  the  history  of  the  colonies  the  magistrates 
tried  zealously  to  regulate  the  style  and  cost  of  female 

(clothing.  The  deluded  Puritan  elders,  who  believed 
that  everything  could  and  should  be  controlled  by  law, 
even  attempted  until  far  into  the  eighteenth  century  to 
decide  just  how  women  should  array  themselves.  But 
the  eternal  feminine  was  too  strong  for  the  law  makers, 
and  they  ultimately  gave  up  in  despair.  Both  in  Vir- 


Colonial  Woman  and  Dress  153 

ginia  and  New  England  such  rules  were  early  given/ 
a  trial.  Thus,  in  the  old  court  records  we  run  across  such 
statements  as  the  following:  "  Sep.  27,  1653,  the  wife  of 
Nicholas  Maye  of  Newbury,  Conn.,  was  presented  for 
wearing  silk  cloak  and  scarf,  but  cleared  proving  her 
husband  was  worth  more  than  £200."  In  some  of  the 
Southern  settlements  the  church  authorities  very 
shrewdly  connected  fine  dress  with  public  spiritedness 
and  benevolence,  and  declared  that  every  unmarried 
man  must  be  assessed  in  church  according  to  his  own 
apparel,  and  every  married  man  according  to  his  own 
and  his  wife's  apparel.1  Again  in  1651  the  Massa 
chusetts  court  expressed  its  "  utter  detestation  that  men 
and  women  of  meane  condition,  education  and  calling 
should  take  uppon  them  the  garbe  of  gentlemen  by  wear- 
inge  of  gold  or  silver  lace  or  buttons  or  poynts  at  their 
knees,  or  walke  in  great  boots,  or  women  of  the  same 
ranke  to  wear  silke  or  tiffany  hoods  or  scarfs." 

A  large  number  of  persons  were  indeed  "  presented  " 
under  this  law,  and  it  is  plain  that  the  officers  of  the  times 
were  greatly  worried  over  this  form  of  earthly  pride ;  but 
as  the  settlements  grew  older  the  people  gradually 
silenced  the  magistrates,  and  each  person  dressed  as  he 
or  she,  especially  the  latter,  chose. 

//.     Contemporary  Descriptions 

The  result  is  that  we  find  more  references  to  dress  in 
the  eighteenth  century  than  in  the  previous  one.  The 
colonists  had  become  more  prosperous,  a  little  more 
worldly,  and  certainly  far  less  afraid  of  the  wrath  of  God 
and  the  judges.  As  travel  to  Europe  became  safer  and 

i  Fiske:  Old  Virginia,  Vol.  I,  p.  246. 


154  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

more  common,  visitors  brought  new  fashions,  and  pro 
vincialism  in  manner,  style,  and  costume  became  much 
less  apparent.  Madame  Knight,  who  wrote  an  account 
of  her  journey  from  Boston  to  New  York  in  1704,  has 
left  some  record  of  dress  in  the  different  colonies.  Of 
the  country  women  in  Connecticut  she  says:  "  They  are 

\  very  plain  in  their  dress,  throughout  all  the  colony,  as  I 
saw,  and  follow  one  another  in  their  modes;  that  you 
may  know  where  they  belong,  especially  the  women, 
meet  them  where  you  will."  And  see  her  description  of 
the  dress  of  the  Dutch  women  of  New  York:  "  The 
English  go  very  fashionable  in  their  dress.  But  the 
Dutch,  especially  the  middling  sort,  differ  from  our 
women  in  their  habit,  go  loose,  wear  French  muches, 
which  are  like  a  cap  and  a  head  band  in  one,  leaving 
their  ears  bare,  which  are  set  out  with  jewels  of  a  large 
size,  and  many  in  number;  and  their  fingers  hooked  with 
rings,  some  with  large  stones  in  them  of  many  colors,  as 
were  their  pendants  in  their  ears,  which  you  should  see 
very  old  women  wear  as  well  as  young." 

As  Mrs.  Knight  was  so  observant  of  how  others  dressed, 
let  us  take  a  look  at  her  own  costume,  as  described  in 
Brooks'  Dames  and  Daughters  of  Colonial  Days:  "  Debby 
looked  with  curious  admiring  eyes  at  the  new  comer's 
costume,  the  scarlet  cloak  and  little  round  cap  of  Lin 
coln  green,  the  puffed  and  ruffled  sleeves,  the  petticoat- 
of  green-drugget  cloth,  the  high  heeled  leather  shoes, 

'with  their  green  ribbon  bows,  and  the  riding  mask  of 
black  velvet  which  Debby  remembered  to  have  heard, 
only  ladies  of  the  highest  gentility  wore."2 

The  most  famous  or  most  dignified  of  colonial  gentle- 

«  Page  76. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Dress  155 

men  were  not  above  commenting  upon  woman's  dress. 
Old  Judge  Sewall  mingled  with  his  accounts  of  courts, 
weddings,  and  funerals  such  items  as:  "Apr.  5,  1722. 
My  Wife  wore  her  new  Gown  of  sprig'd  Persian." 
Again,  we  note  the  philosopher-statesman,  Franklin, 
discoursing  rather  fluently  to  his  wife  about  dress,  and, 
from  what  we  glean,  he  seems  to  have  been  pretty  well 
informed  on  matters  of  style.  Thus  in  1766  he  wrote: 
"  As  the  Stamp  Act  is  at  length  repeal'd,  I  am  willing 
you  should  have  a  new  Gown,  which  you  may  suppose  I 
did  not  send  sooner,  as  I  knew  you  would  not  like  to  be 
finer  than  your  neighbours,  unless  in  a  Gown  of  your 
own  spinning.  Had  the  trade  between  the  two  Countries 
totally  ceas'd,  it  was  a  Comfort  to  me  to  recollect,  that 
I  had  once  been  cloth'd  from  Head  to  Foot  in  Woolen 
and  Linnen  of  my  Wife's  Manufacture,  that  I  never  was 
prouder  of  any  Dress  in  my  Life,  and  that  she  and  her 
Daughter  might  do  it  again  if  it  was  necessary.  .  .  . 
Joking  apart,  I  have  sent  you  a  fine  Piece  of  Pompadore 
Sattin,  14  Yards,  cost  11  shillings  a  Yard;  a  silk  Negligee 
and  Petticoat  of  brocaded  Lutestring  for  my  dear  Sally, 
with  two  dozen  Gloves.  .  .  ."3 

A  letter  dated  from  London,  1758,  reads:  ..."  I 
send  also  7  yards  of  printed  Cotton,  blue  Ground,  to 
make  you  a  Gown.  I  bought  it  by  Candle-Light,  and 
lik'd  it  then,  but  not  so  well  afterwards.  If  you  do  not 
fancy  it,  send  it  as  a  present  from  me  to  sister  Jenny. 
There  is  a  better  Gown  for  you,  of  flower'd  Tissue,  16 
yards,  of  Mrs.  Stevenson's  Fancy,  cost  9  Guineas  and  I 
think  it  a  great  Beauty.  There  was  no  more  of  the  sort 
or  you  should  have  had  enough  for  a  Negligee  or  Suit."4 

•  Smyth:    Writings  of  B.  Franklin,  Vol.  IV,  p.  449. 
«76td:  Vol.  Ill,  p.  431. 


156  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

And  again:  "  Had  I  been  well,  I  intended  to  have 
gone  round  among  the  shops  and  bought  some  pretty 
things  for  you  and  my  dear,  good  Sally  (whose  little 
hands  you  say  eased  your  headache)  to  send  by  this 
ship,  but  I  must  now  defer  it  to  the  next,  having  only  got 
a  crimson  satin  cloak  for  you,  the  newest  fashion,  and 
the  black  silk  for  Sally;  but  Billy  sends  her  a  scarlet 
feather,  muff,  and  tippet,  and  a  box  of  fashionable 
linen  for  her  dress.  .  .  ."6 

He  sends  her  also  in  1758  "  a  newest  fashion'd  white 
Hat  and  Cloak  and  sundery  little  things,  which  I  hope 
will  get  safe  to  hand.  I  send  a  pair  of  Buckles,  made  of 
French  Paste  Stones,  which  are  next  in  Lustre  to  Dia 
monds.  .  .  ."6 

Abigail  Adams  also  has  left  us  rather  detailed  descrip 
tions  of  her  dresses  prepared  for  various  special  occa 
sions.  Thus,  after  being  presented  at  the  English  Court, 
she  wrote  home:  "  Your  Aunt  then  wore  a  full  dress 
court  cap  without  the  lappets,  in  which  was  a  wreath  of 
white  flowers,  and  blue  sheafs,  two  black  and  blue  flat 
feathers,  pins,  bought  for  Court,  and  a  pair  of  pearl 
earings,  the  cost  of  them  —  no  matter  what;  less  than 
diamonds,  however.  A  sapphire  blue  demi-saison  with 
a  satin  stripe,  sack  and  petticoat  trimmed  with  a  broad 
black  lace;  crape  flounce,  &  leave  made  of  blue  ribbon, 
and  trimmed  with  white  floss;  wreaths  of  black  velvet 
ribbon  spotted  with  steel  beads,  which  are  much  in 
fashion,  and  brought  to  such  perfection  as  to  resemble 
diamonds;  white  ribbon  also  in  the  van  dyke  style, 
made  up  of  the  trimming,  which  looked  very  elegant,  a 

•  Ibid:   Vol.  Ill,  p.  419. 

•  Ibid:  Vol.  Ill,  p.  438. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Dress  157 

full  dress  handkerchief,  and  a  bouquet  of  roses.  .  .  . 
Now  for  your  cousin:  A  small,  white  leghorn  hat, 
bound  with  pink  satin  ribbon;  a  steel  buckle  and 
band  which  turned  up  at  the  side,  and  confined  a  large 
pink  bow;  large  bow  of  the  same  kind  of  ribbon  behind; 
a  wreath  of  full-blown  roses  round  the  crown,  and  an 
other  of  buds  and  roses  within  side  the  hat,  which  being 
placed  at  the  back  of  the  hair  brought  the  roses  to  the 
edge;  you  see  it  clearly;  one  red  and  black  feather, 
with  two  white  ones,  compleated  the  head-dress.  A 
gown  and  coat  of  chamberi  gauze  with  a  red  satin  stripe 
over  a  pink  waist,  and  coat  flounced  with  crape,  trimmed 
with  broad  point  and  pink  ribbon;  wreaths  of  roses 
across  the  coat;  gauze  sleeves  and  ruffles."7 

Although  it  is  absolutely  impossible  for  a  man  to  form 
the  picture,  this  sounds  as  though  it  were  elegant. 
Again  she  writes:  "  Cousin's  dress  is  white,  .  .  .  like 
your  aunts,  only  differently  trimmed  and  ornamented; 
her  train  being  wholly  of  white  crape,  and  trimmed  with 
white  ribbon;  the  petticoat,  which  is  the  most  showy 
part  of  the  dress,  covered  and  drawn  up  in  what  are 
called  festoons,  with  light  wreaths  of  beautiful  flowers; 
the  sleeves  white  crape,  drawn  over  silk,  with  a  row  of 
lace  round  the  sleeve  near  the  shoulder,  another  half 
way  down  the  arm,  and  a  third  upon  the  top  of  the  ruffle, 
a  little  flower  stuck  between;  a  kind  of  hat-cap,  with 
three  large  feathers,  and  a  bunch  of  flowers;  a  wreath  of 
flowers  upon  the  hair."8 

It  is  apparent  that  no  large  amount  of  Puritanical 
scruples  about  fine  array  had  passed  over  into  eighteenth 

'  Letters  of  A.  Adams,  p.  282. 
8  Letters  of  A.  Adams,  p.  250. 


158  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

century  America.  Whether  in  New  England,  the  Middle 
Colonies,  or  the  South,  the  natural  longing  of  woman  for 
ornamentation  and  beautiful  adornment  had  gained 
supremacy,  and  from  the  records  we  may  judge  that 
some  ladies  of  those  days  expended  an  amount  on  cloth 
ing  not  greatly  out  of  proportion  with  the  amount  spent 
to-day  by  the  well-to-do  classes.  For  instance,  in 
Philadelphia,  we  find  a  Miss  Chambers  adorned  as 
follows:  "  On  this  evening,  my  dress  was  white  brocade 
silk,  trimmed  with  silver,  and  white  silk  high-heeled 
shoes,  embroidered  with  silver,  and  a  light-blue  sash 
with  silver  and  tassel,  tied  at  the  left  side.  My  watch 
was  suspended  at  the  right,  and  my  hair  was  in  its 
natural  curls.  Surmounting  all  was  a  small  white  hat 
and  white  ostrich  feather,  confined  by  brilliant  band 
and  buckle."9 

III.     Raillery  and  Scolding 

Of  course,  the  colonial  man  found  woman's  dress  a 
subject  for  jest;  what  man  has  not?  Certainly  in 
America  the  custom  is  of  long  standing.  Old  Nathaniel 
Ward,  writing  in  1647  in  his  Simple  Cobbler  of  Aggawam, 
declares:  "  It  is  a  more  common  than  convenient  say 
ing  that  nine  tailors  make  a  man;  it  were  well  if  nine 
teen  could  make  a  woman  to  her  mind.  If  tailors  were 
men  indeed  well  furnished,  but  with  more  moral  princi 
ples,  they  would  disdain  to  be  led  about  like  apes  by 
such  mimic  marmosets.  It  is  a  most  unworthy  thing 
for  men  that  have  bones  in  them  to  spend  their  lives  in 
making  fiddle-cases  for  futilous  women's  fancies;  which 
are  the  very  pettitoes  of  infirmity,  the  giblets  of  per- 
quisquilian  toys.  .  .  .  It  is  no  little  labor  to  be  continu- 

•Wharton:   Martha  Wathington,  p.  227. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Dress  159 

ally  putting  up  English  women  into  outlandish  casks; 
who  if  they  be  not  shifted  anew  once  in  a  few  months 
grow  too  sour  for  their  husbands.  .  .  .  He  that  makes 
coats  for  the  moon  had  need  take  measure  every  noon, 
and  he  that  makes  for  women,  as  often  to  keep  them 
from  lunacy." 

Indeed  Ward  becomes  genuinely  excited  over  the 
matter,  and  says  some  really  bitter  things:  "  I  shall 
make  bold  for  this  once  to  borrow  a  little  of  their  long- 
waisted  but  short-skirted  patience.  ...  It  is  beyond 
the  ken  of  my  understanding  to  conceive,  how  those 
women  should  have  any  true  grace,  or  valuable  virtue, 
that  have  so  little  wit  as  to  disfigure  themselves  with  such 
exotic  garbes,  as  not  only  dismantle  their  native  lovely 
lustre,  but  transclouts  them  into  gant-bar-geese,  ill 
shapen-shotten-shell-fish,  Egyptian  Hyeroglyphics,  or  at 
the  best  French  flirts  of  the  pastery,  which  a  proper 
English  woman  should  scorn  with  her  heels.  ..." 

The  raillery  became  more  frequent  and  certainly  much 
more  good-natured  in  the  eighteenth  century.  Philip 
Fithian,  a  Virginia  tutor,  writing  in  1773,  said  in  his 
Diary:  "  Almost  every  Lady  wears  a  red  Cloak;  and 
when  they  ride  out  they  tye  a  red  handkerchief  over 
their  Head  and  face,  so  that  when  I  first  came  into 
Virginia,  I  was  distressed  whenever  I  saw  a  Lady,  for  1 
thought  she  had  the  toothache. 

In  fact,  the  subject  sometimes  inspired  the  men  to 
poetry,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  following  specimen : 

"  Young  ladies,  in  town,  and  those  that  live  'round, 

Let  a  friend  at  this  season  advise  you; 
Since  money's  so  scarce,  and  times  growing  worse, 
Strange  things  may  soon  hap  and  surprise  you. 


160  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

"  First,  then,  throw  aside  your  topknots  of  pride, 

Wear  none  but  your  own  country  linen, 
Of  Economy  boast,  let  your  pride  be  the  most, 
To  show  clothes  of  your  own  make  and  spinning. 

"  What  if  home-spun,  they  say,  is  not  quite  so  gay, 

As  brocades,  yet  be  not  in  a  passion, 
For  when  once  it  is  known,  this  is  much  worn  in  town, 
One  and  all  will  cry  out  —  '  'Tis  the  fashion.' 

"  Throw  aside  your  Bohea  and  your  Green  Hyson  tea, 

And  all  things  with  a  new-fashion  duty; 
Procure  a  good  store  of  the  choice  Laborador 
For  there'll  soon  be  enough  here  to  suit  you. 

"  These  do  without  fear,  and  to  all  you'll  appear 

Fair,  charming,  true,  lovely,  and  clever, 
Tho'  the  times  remain  darkish,  young  men  may  be  sparkish, 
And  love  you  much  stronger  than  ever."10 

A  perusal  of  extracts  from  newspapers  of  those  days 
makes  it  clear  that  a  good  many  men  were  of  the  opinion 
that  more  simplicity  in  dress  would  indeed  make  women 
"  fair,  charming,  true,  lovely,  and  clever."  The  Essex 
Journal  of  Massachusetts  of  the  late  eighteenth  century, 
commenting  upon  the  follies  common  to  "  females " 
—  vanity,  affectation,  talkativeness,  etc.,  —  adds  the 
following  remarks  on  dress:  "  Too  great  delight  in 
dress  and  finery  by  the  expense  of  time  and  money  which 
they  occasion  in  some  instances  to  a  degree  beyond  all 
bounds  of  decency  and  common  sense,  tends  naturally 
to  sink  a  woman  to  the  lowest  pitch  of  contempt  amongst 
all  those  of  either  sex  who  have  capacity  enough  to  put 
two  thoughts  together.  A  creature  who  spends  its 

10  Buckingham:  Reminiscences,  Vol.  I,  p.  34. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Dress  161 

whole  time  in  dressing,  prating,  gaming,  and  gadding, 
is  a  being  —  originally  indeed  of  the  rational  make, 
but  who  has  sunk  itself  beneath  its  rank,  and  is  to  be 
considered  at  present  as  nearly  on  a  level  with  the 
monkey  species.  ..." 

Even  pamphlets  and  small  books  were  written  on  the 
subject  by  ireful  male  citizens,  and  the  publisher  of  the 
Boston  News  Letter  braved  the  wrath  of  womankind  by 
inserting  the  following  advertisement  in  his  paper: 
"  Just  published  and  Sold  by  the  Printer  hereof,  HOOP 
PETTICOATS,  Arraigned  and  condemned  by  the  Light 
of  Nature  and  Law  of  God."11  Many  a  scribbler  hiding 
behind  some  Latin  pen  name,  such  as  Publicus,  poured 
forth  in  those  early  papers  his  spleen  concerning  woman's 
costume.  Thus  in  1726  the  New  England  Weekly 
Journal  published  a  series  of  essays  on  the  vanities  of 
females,  and  the  writer  evidently  found  much  relief  in 
delivering  himself  on  those  same  hoop  skirts:  "  I  shall 
not  busy  myself  with  the  ladies'  shoes  and  stockings  at 
all,  but  I  can't  so  easily  pass  over  the  Hoop  when  'tis 
in  my  way,  and  therefore  I  must  beg  pardon  of  my  fair 
readers  if  I  begin  my  attack  here.  'Tis  now  some  years 
since  this  remarkable  fashion  made  a  figure  in  the  world 
and  from  its  first  beginning  divided  the  public  opinion 
as  to  its  convenience  and  beauty.  For  my  part  I  was 
always  willing  to  indulge  it  under  some  restrictions: 
that  is  to  say  if  'tis  not  a  rival  to  the  dome  of  St.  Paul's 
to  incumber  the  way,  or  a  tub  for  the  residence  of  a  new 
Diogenes.  If  it  does  not  eclipse  too  much  beauty 
above  or  discover  too  much  below.  In  short,  I  am  for 
living  in  peace,  and  I  am  afraid  a  fine  lady  with  too  much 

"  Buckingham,  Vol.  I,  p.  88. 


162  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

liberty  in  this  particular  would  render  my  own  imagina 
tion  an  enemy  to  my  repose." 

Perhaps,  however,  in  this  particular  instance,  men  had 
some  excuse  for  their  tirade;  it  may  have  come  as  a 
matter  of  self-preservation.  We  can  more  readily 
understand  their  feelings  when  we  learn  the  size  of  the 
cause  of  it.  In  October,  1774,  after  Margaret  Hutchin- 
son  had  been  presented  at  the  Court  of  St.  James,  she 
wrote  her  sister:  "  We  called  for  Mrs.  Keene,  but  found 
that  one  coach  would  not  contain  more  than  two  such 
mighty  hoops;  and  papa  and  Mr.  K.  were  obliged  to  go 
in  another  coach." 

But  hoops  and  bonnets  and  other  extravagant  forms 
of  dress  were  not  the  only  phases  of  woman's  adorn 
ment  that  startled  the  men  and  fretted  their  souls. 
The  very  manner  in  which  the  ladies  wore  their  hair 
caused  their  lords  and  masters  to  run  to  the  news 
paper  with  a  fresh  outburst  of  contempt.  In  1731  some 
Massachusetts  citizen  with  more  wrath  than  caution 
expressed  himself  thus:  "  I  come  now  to  the  Head 
Dress  —  the  very  highest  point  of  female  eloquence, 
and  here  I  find  such  a  variety  of  modes,  such  a  medley 
of  decoration,  that  'tis  hard  to  know  where  to  fix,  lace 
and  cambrick,  gauze  and  fringe,  feathers  and  ribbands, 
create  such  a  confusion,  occasion  such  frequent  changes 
that  it  defies  art,  judgement,  or  taste  to  recommend 
them  to  any  standard,  or  reduce  them  to  any  order. 
That  ornament  of  the  hair  which  is  styled  the  Horns, 
and  has  been  in  vogue  so  long,  was  certainly  first  calcu 
lated  by  some  good-natured  lady  to  keep  her  spouse  in 
countenance."12 

"Buckingham,  Vol.  I,  p.  115. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Dress  163 

This  last  statement  proved  too  much;  it  was  the 
straw  that  broke  the  camel's  back;  even  the  meek  colo 
nial  women  could  not  suffer  this  to  go  unanswered.  In 
the  next  number  of  the  same  paper  appeared  the  follow 
ing,  written  probably  by  some  high-spirited  dame: 
"  You  seem  to  blame  us  for  our  innovations  and  fleeting 
fancy  in  dress  which  you  are  most  notoriously  guilty  of, 
who  esteem  yourselves  the  mighty,  wise,  and  head  of 
the  species.  Therefore,  I  think  it  highly  necessary  that 
you  show  us  the  example  first,  and  begin  the  reformation 
among  yourselves,  if  you  intend  your  observations  shall 
have  any  with  us.  I  leave  the  world  to  judge  whether 
our  petticoat  resembles  the  dome  of  St.  Paul's  nearer 
than  you  in  your  long  coats  do  the  Monument.  You 
complain  of  our  masculine  appearance  in  our  riding 
habits,  and  indeed  we  think  it  is  but  reasonable  that  we 
should  make  reprisals  upon  you  for  the  invasion  of  our 
dress  and  figure,  and  the  advances  you  make  in  effemi- 
nency,  and  your  degeneracy  from  the  figure  of  man. 
Can  there  be  a  more  ridiculous  appearance  than  to  see  a 
smart  fellow  within  the  compass  of  five  feet  immersed  in 
a  huge  long  coat  to  his  heels  with  cuffs  to  the  arm  pits, 
the  shoulders  and  breast  fenced  against  the  inclemencies 
of  the  weather  by  a  monstrous  cape,  or  rather  short 
cloak,  shoe  toes,  pointed  to  the  heavens  in  imitation  of 
the  Lap-landers,  with  buckles  of  a  harnass  size?  I  confess 
the  beaux  with  their  toupee  wigs  make  us  extremely 
merry,  and  frequently  put  me  in  mind  of  my  favorite 
monkey  both  in  figure  and  apishness,  and  were  it  not  for 
a  reverse  of  circumstances,  I  should  be  apt  to  mistake 
it  for  Pug,  and  treat  him  with  the  same  familiarity."13 


164  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

IV.     Extravagance  in  Dress 

To  all  appearances  it  was  less  safe  in  colonial  days  for 
mere  man  to  comment  on  female  attire  than  at  present; 
for  the  typical  gentlemen  before  1800  probably  wore  as 
many  velvets,  brocades,  satins,  laces,  and  wigs  as  any 
woman  of  the  day  or  since.  Each  sex,  however,  wasted 
more  than  enough  of  both  time  and  money  on  the  matter. 
Grieve,  the  translator  of  Chastellux,  the  Frenchman  who 
made  rather  extensive  observations  in  America  at  the 
close  of  the  Revolution,  says  in  a  footnote  to  Chastel- 
lux's  Travels:  "  The  rage  for  dress  amongst  the  women 
in  America,  in  the  very  height  of  the  miseries  of  the  war, 
was  beyond  all  bounds;  nor  was  it  confined  to  the  great 
towns;  it  prevailed  equally  on  the  sea  coasts  and  in 
the  woods  and  solitudes  of  the  vast  extent  of  country 
from  Florida  to  New  Hampshire.  In  travelling  into  the 
interior  parts  of  Virginia  I  spent  a  delicious  day  at  an 
inn,  at  the  ferry  of  the  Shenandoah,  or  the  Catacton 
Mountains,  with  the  most  engaging,  accomplished  and 
voluptuous  girls,  the  daughters  of  the  landlord,  a  native 
of  Boston  transplanted  thither,  who  with  all  the  gifts  of 
nature  possessed  the  arts  of  dress  'not  unworthy  of 
Parisian  milliners,  and  went  regularly  three  times  a  week 
to  the  distance  of  seven  miles,  to  attend  the  lessons  of 
one  DeGrace,  a  French  dancing  master,  who  was  making 
a  fortune  in  the  country."14 

Such  a  statement  must  not,  of  course,  be  taken  too 
seriously;  for,  as  we  have  seen,  many  women,  such  as 
Mrs.  Washington,  Abigail  Adams,  and  Eliza  Pinckney, 
were  almost  parsimonious  in  dress  during  the  great 
strife.  Doubtless  there  were  many, -[however,  particu- 

"  Vol.  II,  p.  115. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Dress  165 

larly  in  the  cities,  who  could  not  or  would  not  restrain 
their  love  of  finery,  especially  when  so  many  handsome 
and  gaily  uniformed  British  officers  were  at  hand.  But 
long  before  and  after  the  Revolution  there  seems  to 
have  been  no  lack  of  fashionable  clothing.  The  old 
diaries  and  account  books  tell  the  tale.  Thus,  Washing 
ton  has  left  us  an  account  of  articles  ordered  from  London 
for  his  wife.  Among  these  were  "  a  salmon-colored 
tabby  velvet  of  the  enclosed  pattern,  with  satin  flowers, 
to  be  made  in  a  sack  and  coat,  ruffles  to  be  made  of 
Brussels  lace  or  Point,  proper  to  be  worn  with  the  above 
negligee,  to  cost  £20;  2  pairs  of  white  silk  hose;  1  pair  of 
white  satin  shoes  of  the  smallest  fives;  1  fashionable  hat 
or  bonnet;  6  pairs  woman's  best  kid  gloves;  6  pairs  mitts; 
1  dozen  breast-knots;  1  dozen  most  fashionable  cambric 
pocket  handkerchiefs;  6  pounds  perfumed  powder; 
a  puckered  petticoat  of  fashionable  color;  a  silver  tabby 
velvet  petticoat;  handsome  breast  flowers;  .  .  ." 
For  little  Miss  Custis  was  ordered  "  a  coat  made  of 
fashionable  silk,  6  pairs  of  white  kid  gloves,  hand 
some  egrettes  of  different  sorts,  and  one  pair  of  pack 
thread  stays.  .  ,"15 

These  may  seem  indeed  rather  strange  gifts  for  a 
mere  girl;  but  we  should  remember  that  children  of  that 
day  wore  dresses  similar  to  those  of  their  mothers,  and 
such  items  as  high-heeled  shoes,  heavy  stays,  and  enor 
mous  hoop  petticoats  were  not  at  all  unusual.  Many 
things  unknown  to  the  modern  child  were  commonly  used 
by  the  daughters  of  the  wealthier  parents,  such  as  long- 
armed  gloves  and  complexion  masks,  made  of  linen  or 
velvet,  and  sun-bonnets  sewed  through  the  hair  and  under 

"Wharton:    Martha  Washington,  p.  59. 


166  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

the  neck  —  all  this  to  ward  off  every  ray  of  the  sun,  and 
thus  preserve  the  delicate  complexion  of  childhood. 

That  we  may  judge  of  the  quality  and  quantity  of  a 
girl's  apparel  in  those  fastidious  days,  examine  this  list 
of  clothes  sent  by  Colonel  John  Lewis  of  Virginia  in  1727 
to  be  used  by  his  ward,  in  an  English  school: 

"  A  cap  ruffle  and  tucker,  the  lace  5  shillings  per  yard, 

1  pair  White  Stays,  4  pair  plain  Spanish  shoes, 
8  pair  White  Kid  gloves,  2  pair  calf  shoes, 

2  pair  coloured  kid  gloves,  1  mask, 

2  pair  worsted  hose,  1  fan, 

3  pair  thread  hose,  1  necklace, 

1  pair  silk  shoes  laced,  1  Girdle  and  buckle, 

1  pair  morocco  shoes,  1  piece  fashionable  calico, 

1  Hoop  Coat,  4  yards  ribbon  for  knots, 

1  Hat,  If  yd.  Cambric, 

1  mantua  and  coat  of  lute-string."18 

One  New  England  miss,  sent  to  a  finishing  school  at 
Boston,  had  twelve  silk  gowns,  but  her  teacher  "  wrote 
home  that  she  must  have  another  gown  of  a  '  recently 
imported  rich  fabric/  which  was  at  once  bought  for  her 
because  it  was  suitable  for  her  rank  and  station."17 
Even  the  frugal  Ben  Franklin  saw  to  it  that  his  wife  and 
daughter  dressed  as  well  as  the  best  of  them  in  rich 
gowns  of  silk.  In  the  Pennsylvania  Gazette  of  1750 
there  appeared  the  following  advertisement:  "  Whereas 
on  Saturday  night  last  the  house  of  Benjamin  Franklin 
of  this  city,  Printer,  was  broken  open,  and  the  following 
things  feloniously  taken  away,  viz.,  a  double  necklace 
of  gold  beads,  a  woman's  long  scarlet  cloak  almost  new, 
with  a  double  cape,  a  woman's  gown,  of  printed  cotton 

16  Quoted  in  Earle:   Home  Life  in  Colonial  Days,  p.  290. 
"  Earle:   Home  Life  in  Colonial  Days,  p.  291. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Dress  167 

of  the  sort  called  brocade  print,  very  remarkable,  the 
ground  dark,  with  large  red  roses,  and  other  large  and 
yellow  flowers,  with  blue  in  some  of  the  flowers,  with 
many  green  leaves;  a  pair  of  women's  stays  covered  with 
white  tabby  before,  and  dove  colour'd  tabby  behind.  .  ." 

It  seems  that  in  richness  of  dress  Philadelphia  led  the 
colonial  world,  even  outrivaling  the  expenditure  of  the 
wealthy  Virginia  planters  for  this  item.  While  Phila 
delphia  was  the  political  and  social  center  of  the  day  this 
extravagance  was  especially  noticeable;  but  when  New 
York  became  the  capital  the  Quaker  city  was  almost 
over-shadowed  by  the  gaiety  displayed  in  dress  by  the 
Dutch  city.  "  You  will  find  here  the  English  fashions," 
says  St.  John  de  Crevecoeur.  "  In  the  dress  of  the 
women  you  will  see  the  most  brilliant  silks,  gauzes, 
hats  and  borrowed  hair.  ...  If  there  is  a  town  on  the 
American  continent  where  English  luxury  displayed  its 
follies  it  was  in  New  York."18 

All  the  blame,  however,  must  not  be  placed  upon  the 
shoulders  of  colonial  dames.  What  else  could  the  women 
do?  They  felt  compelled  to  make  an  appearance  at  least 
equal  to  that  of  the  men,  and  probably  Solomon  in  all 
his  glory  was  not  arrayed  as  one  of  these  men.  Even 
the  conservative  Washington  appeared  on  state  occa 
sions  in  "  black  velvet,  a  silver  or  steel  hilted  small 
sword  at  his  left  side,  pearl  satin  waistcoat,  fine  linen 
and  lace,  hair  full  powdered,  black  silk  hose,  and  bag."19 
Such  finery  was  not  limited  to  the  ruling  classes  of  the 
land;  a  Boston  printer  of  the  days  immediately  follow 
ing  the  Revolution  appeared  in  a  costume  that  surpassed 

l8Wharton:    Through  Colonial  Doorways,  p.  89. 
i»  Wharton:   M.  Washington,  p.  225. 


168  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

the  most  startling  that  Boston  of  our  times  could  dis 
play.  "  He  wore  a  pea-green  coat,  white  vest,  nankeen 
small  clothes,  white  silk  stockings,  and  pumps  fastened 
with  silver  buckles  which  covered  at  least  half  the  foot, 
from  instep  to  toe.  His  small  clothes  were  tied  at  the 
knees  with  ribbon  of  the  same  color  in  double  bows, 
the  ends  reaching  down  to  the  ankles.  His  hair  in 
front  was  well  loaded  with  pomatum,  frizzled  or  craped 
and  powdered.  Behind,  his  natural  hair  was  augmented 
by  the  addition  of  a  large  queue  called  vulgarly  a  false 
tail,  which,  enrolled  in  some  yards  of  black  ribbon,  hung 
half  way  down  his  back."20 

Surely  this  is  enough  of  the  men;  let  us  return  to  the 
women.  See  the  future  Dolly  Madison  at  her  first 
meeting  with  the  "  great,  little  Mr.  Madison."  She  had 
lived  a  Quaker  during  her  girlhood,  but  she  grew  bravely 
over  it.  "  Her  gown  of  mulberry  satin,  with  tulle 
kerchief  folded  over  the  bosom,  set  off  to  the  best  advan 
tage  the  pearly  white  and  delicate  rose  tints  of  that 
complexion  which  constituted  the  chief  beauty  of 
Dolly  Todd."21  The  ladies  of  the  Tory  class  evidently 
tried  to  outshine  those  of  the  patriot  party,  and  when 
there  was  a  British  function  of  any  sort,  —  as  was  often 
the  case  at  Philadelphia  —  the  scene  was  indeed  gay, 
with  richly  gowned  matrons  and  maids  on  the  arms  of 
English  officers,  brave  with  gold  lace  and  gold  buttons. 
One  great  fete  or  festival  known  as  the  "  Meschianza," 
given  at  Philadelphia,  was  so  gorgeous  a  pageant  that 
years  afterwards  society  of  the  capital  talked  about  it. 
Picture  the  costume  of  Miss  Franks  of  Philadelphia  on 

20  Earle:   Home  Isife  in  Colonial  Days,  p.  294. 

21  Good  win:    Dolly  Madison,  p.  54. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Dress  169 

that  occasion:  "  The  dress  is  more  ridiculous  and  pretty 
than  anything  I  ever  saw  —  great  quantity  of  different 
colored  feathers  on  the  head  at  a  time  besides  a  thousand 
other  things.  The  Hair  dress'd  very  high  in  the  shape 
Miss  Vining's  was  the  night  we  returned  from  Smiths  — 
the  Hat  we  found  in  your  Mother's  Closet  wou'd  be  of  a 
proper  size.  I  have  an  afternoon  cap  with  one  wing  - 
tho'  I  assure  you  I  go  less  in  the  fashion  than  most  of  the 
Ladies  —  none  being  dress'd  without  a  hoop.  .  .  ."22 

And,  again,  perhaps  the  modern  woman  can  appre 
ciate  the  following  description  of  a  costume  seen  at  the 
inaugural  ball  of  1789:  "  It  was  a  plain  celestial  blue 
satin  gown,  with  a  white  satin  petticoat.  On  the  neck 
was  worn  a  very  large  Italian  gauze  handkerchief,  with 
border  stripes  of  satin.  The  head-dress  was  a  pouf  of 
satin  in  the  form  of  a  globe,  the  creneaux  or  head-piece 
which  was  composed  of  white  satin,  having  a  double 
wing  in  large  pleats  and  trimmed  with  a  wreath  of 
artificial  roses.  The  hair  was  dressed  all  over  in  de 
tached  curls,  four  of  which  in  two  ranks,  fell  on  each 
side  of  the  neck  and  were  relieved  behind  by  a  floating 
chignon."23 

Unlike  the  other  first  ladies  of  the  day,  Martha 
Washington  made  little  effort  toward  ostentation,  and 
her  plain  manner  of  dress  was  sometimes  the  occasion  of 
astonishment  and  comment  on  the  part  of  wives  of 
foreign  representatives.  Says  Miss  Chambers  concern 
ing  this  contrast  between  European  women  and  Mrs. 
Washington,  as  shown  at  a  birthday  ball  tendered  the 
President  in  1795:  "  She  was  dressed  in  a  rich  silk,  but 

"Wharton:    Through  Colonial  Doorways,  p.  219. 
11  Wharton:    Through  Colonial  Doorways,  p.  79. 


170  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

entirely  without  ornament,  except  the  animation  her 
amiable  heart  gives  to  her  countenance.  Next  her  were 
seated  the  wives  of  the  foreign  ambassadors,  glittering 
from  the  floor  to  the  summit  of  their  head-dress.  One 
of  the  ladies  wore  three  large  ostrich  feathers,  her  brow 
was  encircled  by  a  sparkling  fillet  of  diamonds;  her 
neck  and  arms  were  almost  covered  with  jewels,  and  two 
watches  were  suspended  from  her  girdle,  and  all  reflect 
ing  the  light  from  a  hundred  directions."24 

Nor  was  this  richness  of  dress  among  foreign  visitors 
confined  to  the  women.  Sally  McKean,  who  became 
the  wife  of  the  Spanish  minister  to  America,  wore  at  one 
state  function,  "  a  blue  satin  dress,  trimmed  with  white 
crape  and  flowers,  and  petticoat  of  white  crape  richly 
embroidered  and  across  the  front  a  festoon  of  rose  color, 
caught  up  with  flowers  ";  but  her  future  husband  had 
"  his  hair  powdered  like  a  snow  ball;  with  dark  striped 
silk  coat  lined  with  satin,  black  silk  breeches,  white  silk 
stockings,  shoes  and  buckles.  He  had  by  his  side  an 
elegant  hilted  small-sword,  and  his  chapeau  tipped  with 
white  feathers,  under  his  arm."25 

There  were,  of  course,  no  fashion  plates  in  that  day, 
nor  were  there  any  living  "  models  "  to  strut  back  and 
forth  before  keen-eyed  customers;  but  fully  dressed 
dolls  were  imported  from  France  and  England,  and 
sent  from  town  to  town  as  examples  of  properly  attired 
ladies.  Eliza  Southgate  Bowne,  after  seeing  the  dolls 
in  her  shopping  expeditions,  wrote  to  a  friend:  "  Caro 
line  and  I  went  a-shopping  yesterday,  and  'tis  a  fact 
that  the  little  white  satin  Quaker  bonnets,  cap-crowns, 

MWharton:   M artha  Washington,  p    230. 

*  Crawford:  Romantic  Days  in  the  Early  Republic,  p.  53. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Dress  171 

are  the  most  fashionable  that  are  worn  —  lined  with 
pink  or  blue  or  white  —  but  I'll  not  have  one,  for  if  any 
of  my  old  acquaintance  should  meet  me  in  the  street 
they  would  laugh.  .  .  .  Large  sheer-muslin  shawls, 
put  on  as  Sally  Weeks  wears  hers,  are  much  worn;  they 
show  the  form  through  and  look  pretty.  Silk  nabobs, 
plaided,  colored  and  white  are  much  worn  —  very  short 
waists  —  hair  very  plain." 

Of  course,  the  men  of  the  day,  found  a  good  deal  of 
pleasure  in  poking  fun  at  woman's  use  of  dress  and 
ornaments  as  bait  for  entrapping  lovers,  and  many  a 
squib  expressing  this  theory  appeared  in  the  newspapers. 
These  cynical  notes  no  more  represented  the  general 
opinion  of  the  people  than  do  similar  satires  in  the  comic 
sheets  of  to-day;  but  they  are  interesting  at  least,  as 
showing  a  long  prevailing  weakness  among  men.  The 
following  sarcastic  advertisement,  for  instance,  was 
written  by  John  Trumbull: 

"  To  Be  Sold  at  Public  Vendue, 

The  Whole  Estate  of 

Isabella  Sprightly,  Toast  and  Coquette, 

(Now  retiring  from  Business) 

Imprimis,  all  the  tools  and  utensils  necessary  for 
carrying  on  the  trade,  viz. :  several  bundles  of  darts  and 
arrows  well  pointed  and  capable  of  doing  great  execution. 
A  considerable  quantity  of  patches,  paint,  brushes  and 
cosmetics  for  plastering,  painting,  and  white-washing 
the  face;  a  complete  set  of  caps,  "  a  la  mode  a  Paris,"  of 
all  sizes,  from  five  to  fifteen  inches  in  height;  with 
several  dozens  of  cupids,  very  proper  to  be  stationed  on 
a  ruby  lip,  a  diamond  eye,  or  a  roseate  cheek. 


172  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

"  Item,  as  she  proposes  by  certain  ceremonies  to 
transform  one  of  her  humble  servants  into  a  husband  and 
keep  him  for  her  own  use,  she  offers  for  sale,  Florio, 
Daphnis,  Cynthio,  and  Cleanthes,  with  several  others 
whom  she  won  by  a  constant  attendance  on  business  dur 
ing  the  space  of  four  years.  She  can  prove  her  indis 
putable  right  thus  to  dispose  of  them  by  certain  deeds  of 
gifts,  bills  of  sale,  and  attestation,  vulgarly  called  love 
letters,  under  their  own  hands  and  seals.  They  will  be 
offered  very  cheap,  for  they  are  all  of  them  broken 
hearted,  consumptive,  or  in  a  dying  condition.  Nay, 
some  of  them  have  been  dead  this  half  year,  as  they 
declare  and  testify  in  the  above  mentioned  writing. 
"  N.  B.  Their  hearts  will  be  sold  separately." 
When  all  the  above  implements  and  wiles  failed  to 
entrap  a  lover,  and  the  coquette  was  left  as  a  "  wall 
flower/7  as  the  Germans  express  it,  the  men  of  the  day 
satirized  the  unfortunate  one  just  as  mercilessly.  Read, 
for  example,  a  few  lines  from  the  Progress  of  Dullness, 
thought  to  be  a  very  humorous  poem  in  its  time : 

"  Poor  Harriett  now  hath  had  her  day; 
No  more  the  beaux  confess  her  sway; 
New  beauties  push  her  from  the  stage; 
She  trembles  at  the  approach  of  age, 
And  starts  to  view  the  altered  face 
That  wrinkles  at  her  in  her  glass. 

"  Despised  by  all  and  doomed  to  meet 
Her  lovers  at  her  rivals'  feet, 
She  flies  assemblies,  shuns  the  ball, 
And  cries  out,  vanity,  on  all; 

"  Now  careless  grown  of  airs  polite 
Her  noon-day  night-cap  meets  the  sight; 


Colonial  Woman  and  Dress  173 

Her  hair  uncombed  collects  together 
With  ornaments  of  many  a  feather. 

"  She  spends  her  breath  as  years  prevail 
At  this  sad  wicked  world  to  rail, 
To  slander  all  her  sex  impromptu, 
And  wonder  what  the  times  will  come  to." 

During  the  earlier  years  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
as  we  have  noted,  this  deprecatory  opinion  by  men 
concerning  woman's  garb  was  not  confined  to  ridicule 
in  journals  and  books,  but  was  even  incorporated  into 
the  laws  of  several  towns  and  colonies.  Women  were 
compelled  to  dress  in  a  certain  manner  and  within  fixed 
financial  limits,  or  suffered  the  penalties  of  the  courts. 
Many  were  the  "  presentations,"  as  such  cases  were 
called,  of  our  colonial  ancestors.  As  material  wealth 
increased,  however,  dress  became  more  and  more  elabo 
rate  until  in  the  era  shortly  before  and  after  the  Revolu 
tion  fashions  were  almost  extravagant.  Costly  satins, 
silks,  velvets,  and  brocades  were  among  the  common 
items  of  dress  purchased  by  even  the  moderately  well- 
to-do  city  and  planter  folk.  If  space  permitted,  many 
quotations  by  travellers  from  abroad,  accustomed  to 
the  splendor  of  European  courts,  could  be  presented  to 
show  the  surprising  quality  and  good  taste  displayed  in 
the  garments  of  the  better  classes  of  the  New  World. 
To  their  honor,  however,  it  may  be  remembered  that 
these  same  American  women  in  the  days  of  tribulation 
when  their  husbands  were  battling  for  a  new  nation  were 
willing  to  cast  aside  such  indications  of  wealth  and  pride, 
and  don  the  humble  home-spun  garments  made  by  their 
own  hands. 


CHAPTER  V 
COLONIAL  WOMAN  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE 

7.  Southern  Isolation  and  Hospitality 
In  the  earlier  part  of  the  seventeenth  century  the 
social  life  of  the  colonists,  at  least  in  New  England,  was 
what  would  now  be  considered  monotonous  and  dull. 
Aside  from  marriages,  funerals,  and  church-going  there 
was  little  to  attract  the  Puritans  from  their  steady 
routine  of  farming  and  trading.  In  New  York  the 
Dutch  were  apparently  contented  with  their  daily 
eating,  drinking,  smoking,  and  walking  along  the 
Battery  or  out  the  country  road,  the  Bowery.  In 
Virginia  life,  as  far  as  social  activities  were  concerned, 
was  at  first  dull  enough,  although  even  in  the  early 
days  of  Jamestown  there  was  some  display  at  the  Gover 
nor's  mansion,  while  the  sessions  of  court  and  assemblies 
brought  planters  and  their  families  to  town  for  some 
brief  period  of  balls,  banquets,  and  dancing. 

As  the  seventeenth  century  progressed,  however, 
visiting,  dinner  parties,  dances,  and  hunts  in  the  South 
became  more  and  more  gay,  and  the  balls  in  the  planta 
tion  mansions  became  events  of  no  little  splendor. 
Wealth,  gained  through  tobacco,  increased  rapidly  in  this 
section,  and  the  best  that  England  and  France  could 
offer  was  not  too  expensive  for  the  luxurious  homes  of 
not  only  Virginia  but  Maryland  and  South  Carolina. 
The  higher  Dutch  families  of  New  York  also  began  to 
show  considerable  vigor  socially;  Philadelphia  forgot 


Colonial  Woman  and  Social  Life  175 

the  staid  dignity  of  its  founder;  and  even  New  England, 
especially  Boston,  began  to  use  accumulated  wealth  in 
ways  of  levity  that  would  have  shocked  the  Puritan 
fathers. 

In  the  eighteenth-century  South  we  find  accounts  of 
a  carefree,  pleasure-loving,  joyous  mode  of  life  that  read 
almost  like  stories  of  some  fairy  world.  The  traditions 
of  the  people,  among  whom  was  an  element  of  Cavalier 
blood,  the  genial  climate,  the  use  of  slave  labor,  the 
great  demand  for  tobacco,  all  united  to  develop  a  social 
life  much  more  unbounded  and  hospitable  than  that 
found  in  the  northern  colonies.  But  this  constant 
raising  of  tobacco  soon  exhausted  the  soil;  and  the 
planters,  instead  of  attempting  to  enrich  their  lands, 
found  it  more  profitable  constantly  to  advance  into  the 
forest  wilderness  to  the  west,  where  the  process  of  gaining 
wealth  at  the  expense  of  the  soil  might  be  repeated. 
This  was  well  for  American  civilization,  but  not  imme 
diately  beneficial  to  the  intellectual  growth  of  the  people. 
The  mansions  were  naturally  far  apart;  towns  were  few 
in  number;  schools  were  almost  impossible;  and  suc 
cessful  newspapers  were  for  many  years  simply  out  of  the 
question.  Washington's  estate  at  Mt.  Vernon  con 
tained  over  four  thousand  acres;  many  other  farms  were 
far  larger;  each  planter  lived  in  comparative  isolation. 
Those  peculiar  advantages  arising  from  living  near  a 
city  were  totally  absent.  As  late  as  1740  Eliza  Pinckney 
wrote  a  friend  in  England:  "  We  are  17  miles  by  land 
and  6  by  water  from  Charles  Town." 

Thus,  each  large  owner  had  a  tendency  to  become  a 
petty  feudal  lord,  controlling  large  numbers  of  slaves 
and  unlimited  resources  of  soil  and  labor  within  an 


176  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

arbitrary  grasp.  As  there  were  numerous  navigable 
streams,  many  of  the  planters  possessed  private  wharfs 
where  tobacco  could  be  loaded  for  shipment  and  goods 
from  abroad  delivered  within  a  short  distance  of  the 
mansion.  Such  an  economic  scheme  made  trading 
centers  almost  unnecessary  and  tended  to  keep  the 
population  scattered.  "  In  striking  contrast  to  New 
England  was  the  absence  of  towns,  due  mainly  to  two 
reasons  —  first,  the  wealth  of  the  water  courses,  which 
enabled  every  planter  of  means  to  ship  his  products 
from  his  own  wharf,  and,  secondly,  the  culture  of  tobacco, 
which  scattered  the  people  in  a  continual  search  for  new 
and  richer  lands.  This  rural  life,  while  it  hindered 
co-operation,  promoted  a  spirit  of  independence  among 
the  whites  of  all  classes  which  counter-acted  the  aristo 
cratic  form  of  government."1 

Channing,  writing  of  conditions  in  1800,  the  close  of 
this  period,  says:  "  The  great  Virginia  plantations  were 
practically  self-sustaining,  so  far  as  the  actual  neces 
saries  of  life  were  concerned ;  the  slaves  had  to  be  clothed 
and  fed  whether  tobacco  and  wheat  could  be  sold  or 
not,  but  they  produced,  with  the  exception  of  the  raw 
material  for  making  their  garments,  practically  all  that 
was  essential  to  their  well  being.  The  money  which  the 
Virginia  planters  received  for  their  staple  products 
was  used  to  purchase  articles  of  luxury  —  wine  for  the 
men,  articles  of  apparel  for  the  women,  furnishings  for 
the  house,  and  things  of  that  kind,  and  to  pay  the  interest 
on  the  load  of  indebtedness  which  the  Virginia  aristoc 
racy  owed  at  home  and  abroad."2 

1  Tyler:   England  in  America,  p.  115,  American  Nation  Series. 
9  The  Jeffersonian  System,  p.  218,  American  Nation  Series. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Social  Life  177 

Again,  the  same  historian  says:  "  The  plenty  of  every 
thing  made  hospitality  universal,  and  the  wealth  of  the 
country  was  greatly  promoted  by  the  opening  of  the 
forests.  Indeed,  so  contented  were  the  people  with 
their  new  homes  (1652)  that  .  .  .  '  seldom  (if  ever) 
any  that  hath  continued  in  Virginia  any  time  will  or  do 
desire  to  live  in  England,  but  post  back  with  what 
expedition  they  can,  although  many  are  landed  men  in 
England,  and  have  good  estates  there,  and  divers  ways 
of  preferments  propounded  to  them,  to  entice  and 
perswade  their  continuants.'  "3 

Now,  this  comparative  isolation  of  the  plantation  life 
made  visiting  and  neighborliness  doubly  grateful,  and 
hospitality  and  the  spirit  of  kindness  became  almost 
proverbial  in  Virginia.  As  far  back  as  1656  John  Ham 
mond  of  Virginia  and  Maryland  noted  this  fact  with  no 
little  pride  in  his  Leah  and  Rachel;  for,  said  he,  "  If  any 
fall  sick  and  cannot  compasse  to  follow  his  crope,  which 
if  not  followed,  will  soon  be  lost,  the  adjoyning  neigh 
bors  will  either  voluntarily  or  upon  a  request  joyn 
together,  and  work  in  it  by  spels,  untill  the  honour 
recovers,  and  that  gratis,  so  that  no  man  by  sicknesse 
lose  any  part  of  his  years  worke.  .  .  .  Let  any  travell, 
it  is  without  charge,  and  at  every  house  is  entertain 
ment  as  in  a  hostelry,  and  with  it  hearty  welcome  are 
strangers  entertained.  ...  In  a  word,  Virginia  wants 
not  good  victuals,  wants  not  good  dispositions,  and  as 
God  hath  freely  bestowed  it,  they  as  freely  impart  with 
it,  yet  are  there  as  well  bad  natures  as  good." 

This  spirit  of  brotherhood  and  hospitality,  was,  of 
course,  very  necessary  in  the  first  days  of  colonization, 

» Ibid,  p.  115. 


178  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

and  the  sudden  increase  of  wealth  prevented  its  becoming 
irksome  in  later  days.  Naturally,  too,  the  poorer  classes 
copied  after  the  aristocracy,  and  thus  the  custom  became 
universal  along  the  Southern  coast.  As  mentioned 
above,  there  was  a  Cavalier  strain  throughout  the 
section.  As  Robert  Beverly  observed  in  his  History  of 
Virginia,  written  in  1705:  "  In  the  time  of  the  rebellion 
in  England  several  good  cavalier  families  went  thither 
with  their  effects,  to  escape  the  tyranny  of  the  usurper, 
or  acknowledgement  of  his  title."  Such  people  had  long 
been  accustomed  to  rather  lavish  expenditures  and 
entertainment,  and,  as  Beverly  testifies,  they  did  not 
greatly  change  their  mode  of  life  after  reaching  America : 

"  For  their  recreation,  the  plantations,  orchards  and 
gardens  constantly  afford  them  fragrant  and  delightful 
walks.  In  their  woods  and  fields,  they  have  an  unknown 
variety  of  vegetables,  and  other  varieties  of  Nature  to 
discover.  They  have  hunting,  fishing  and  fowling,  with 
which  they  entertain  themselves  an  hundred  ways. 
There  is  the  most  good  nature  and  hospitality  practised 
in  the  world,  both  towards  friends  and  strangers;  but 
the  worst  of  it  is,  this  generosity  is  attended  now  and 
then  with  a  little  too  much  intemperance. 

"  The  inhabitants  are  very  courteous  to  travelers, 
who  need  no  other  recommendation  but  the  being  human 
creatures.  A  stranger  has  no  more  to  do,  but  to  enquire 
upon  the  road,  where  any  gentleman  or  good  house 
keeper  lives,  and  there  he  may  depend  upon  being 
received  with  hospitality.  This  good  nature  is  so 
general  among  their  people,  that  the  gentry,  when  they 
go  abroad,  order  their  principal  servant  to  entertain  all 
visitors,  with  everything  the  plantation  affords.  And 


Colonial   Woman  and  Social  Life  179 

the  poor  planters,  who  have  but  one  bed,  will  very  often 
sit  up,  or  lie  upon  a  form  or  couch  all  night,  to  make 
room  for  a  weary  traveler,  to  repose  himself  after  his 
journey.  .  .  ." 

Many  other  statements,  not  only  by  Americans,  but 
by  cultured  foreigners  might  be  presented  to  show  the 
charm  of  colonial  life  in  Virginia.  The  Marquis  de 
Chastellux,  one  of  the  French  Revolutionary  generals, 
a  man  who  had  mingled  in  the  best  society  of  Europe, 
was  fascinated  with  the  evidence  of  luxury,  culture,  and 
feminine  refinement  of  the  Old  Dominion,  and  declared 
that  Virginia  women  might  become  excellent  musicians 
if  the  fox-hounds  would  stop  baying  for  a  little  while 
each  day.  He  met  several  ladies  who  sang  well  and 
"  played  on  the  harpsichord  ";  he  was  delighted  at  the 
number  of  excellent  French  and  English  authors  he 
found  in  the  libraries;  and,  above  all,  he  was  surprised 
at  the  natural  dignity  of  many  of  the  older  men  and 
women,  and  at  the  evidences  of  domestic  felicity  found 
in  the  great  homes. 

II.  Splendor  in  the  Southern  Home 
Of  these  vast,  rambling  mansions  numerous  descrip 
tions  have  been  handed  down  to  our  day.  The  follow 
ing,  written  in  1774,  is  an  account  recorded  in  his  diary 
by  the  tutor,  Philip  Fithian,  in  the  family  of  a  Virginia 
planter: 

"  Mr.  Carter  has  chosen  for  the  place  of  his  habitation 
a  high  spot  of  Ground  in  Westmoreland  County  .  .  . 
where  he  has  erected  a  large,  Elegant  House,  at  a  vast 
expense,  which  commonly  goes  by  the  name  of  Nomini- 
Hall.  This  House  is  built  with  Brick  but  the  bricks 


180  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

have  been  covered  with  strong  lime  Mortar,  so  that  the 
building  is  now  perfectly  white  (erected  in  1732).  It  is 
seventy-six  Feet  long  from  East  to  West;  &  forty-four 
wide  from  North  to  South,  two  stories  high;  ...  It 
has  five  stacks  of  Chimneys,  tho'  two  of  these  serve 
only  for  ornaments. 

"  There  is  a  beautiful  Jutt,  on  the  South  side,  eighteen 
feet  long,  &  eight  Feet  deep  from  the  wall  which  is  sup 
ported  by  three  pillars  —  On  the  South  side,  or  front, 
in  the  upper  story  are  four  Windows  each  having  twenty- 
four  Lights  of  Glass.  In  the  lower  story  are  two  Win 
dows  each  having  forty-two  Lights  of  Glass,  &  two  Doors 
each  having  Sixteen  Lights.  At  the  east  end  the  upper 
story  has  three  windows  each  with  18  lights;  &  below 
two  windows  both  with  eighteen  lights  &  a  door  with 
nine.  .  .  . 

"  The  North  side  I  think  is  the  most  beautiful  of  all. 
In  the  upper  story  is  a  row  of  seven  windows  with  18 
lights  a  piece;  and  below  six  windows,  with  the  like 
number  of  lights;  besides  a  large  Portico  in  the  middle, 
at  the  sides  of  which  are  two  windows  each  with  eighteen 
lights.  ...  At  the  west  end  are  no  Windows  —  The 
number  of  lights  in  all  is  five  hundred,  &  forty  nine. 
There  are  four  Rooms  on  a  Floor,  disposed  of  in  the 
following  manner.  Below  is  a  dining  Room  where  we 
usually  sit;  the  second  is  a  dining-room  for  the  Children; 
the  third  is  Mr.  Carters  study,  and  the  fourth  is  a  Bali- 
Room  thirty  Feet  long.  Above  stairs,  one  room  is  for 
Mr.  &  Mrs.  Carter;  the  second  for  the  young  Ladies; 
&  the  other  two  for  occasional  Company.  As  this 
House  is  large,  and  stands  on  a  high  piece  of  Land  it 
may  be  seen  a  considerable  distance." 


Colonial   Woman  and  Social  Life  181 

Nor  were  these  houses  less  elegantly  furnished  than 
magnificently  built.  Chastellux  was  astounded  at  the 
taste  and  richness  of  the  ornaments  and  permanent 
fixtures,  and  declared  of  the  Nelson  Home  at  Yorktown 
that  "  neither  European  taste  nor  luxury  was  excluded; 
a  chimney  piece  and  some  bas-reliefs  of  very  fine  marble 
exquisitely  sculptured  were  particularly  admired."  As 
Fisher  says  of  such  mansions,  in  his  interesting  Men, 
Women  and  Manners  in  Colonial  Times:  "  They  were 
crammed  from  cellar  to  garret  with  all  the  articles  of 
pleasure  and  convenience  that  were  produced  in  Eng 
land:  Russia  leather  chairs,  Turkey  worked  chairs, 
enormous  quantities  of  damask  napkins  and  table- 
linen,  silver  and  pewter  ware,  candle  sticks  of  brass, 
silver  and  pewter,  flagons,  dram-cups,  beakers,  tankards, 
chafing-dishes,  Spanish  tables,  Dutch  tables,  valuable 
clocks,  screens,  and  escritoires."4 

///.     Social  Activities 

In  such  an  environment  a  gay  social  life  was  eminently 
fitting,  and  how  often  we  may  read  between  the  lines  of 
old  letters  and  diaries  the  story  of  such  festive  occa 
sions.  For  instance,  scan  the  records  of  the  life  of  Eliza 
Pinckney,  and  her  beautiful  daughter,  one  of  the  belles 
of  Charleston,  and  note  such  bits  of  information  as  the 
following : 

"  Governor  Lyttelton  will  wait  on  the  ladies  at  Bel- 
mont  "  (the  home  of  Mrs.  Pinckney  and  her  daughter); 
"  Mrs.  Drayton  begs  the  pleasure  of  your  company  to 
spend  a  few  days";  "  Lord  and  Lady  Charles  Mon 
tague's  Compts  to  Mrs.  and  Miss  Pinckney,  and  if  it  is 

« Page  89. 


182  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

agreeable  to  them  shall  be  glad  of  their  Company  at  the 
Lodge";  "  Mrs.  Glen  presents  her  Compts  to  Mrs. 
Pinckney  and  Mrs.  Hyrne,  hopes  they  got  no  Cold,  and 
begs  Mrs.  Pinckney  will  detain  Mrs.  Hyrne  from  going 
home  till  Monday,  and  that  they  (together  with  Miss 
Butler  and  the  3  young  Lady's)  will  do  her  the  favour  to 
dine  with  her  on  Sunday."  (Mr.  Pinckney  had  been 
dead  for  several  years.)5 

And  again,  in  a  letter  written  in  her  girlhood  to  her 
brother  about  1743,  Eliza  Pinckney  says  of  the  people  of 
Carolina:  "  The  people  in  genl  are  hospitable  and  honest, 
and  the  better  sort  add  to  these  a  polite  gentile  behaviour. 
The  poorer  sort  are  the  most  indolent  people  in  the  world 
or  they  could  never  be  wretched  in  so  plentiful  a  country 
as  this.  The  winters  here  are  very  fine  and  pleasant, 
but  4  months  in  the  year  is  extreamly  disagreeable, 
excessive  hott,  much  thunder  and  lightening  and  muska- 
toes  and  sand  flies  in  abundance. 

"  Crs  Town,  the  Metropolis,  is  a  neat,  pretty  place. 
The  inhabitants  polite  and  live  in  a  very  gentile  manner. 
The  streets  and  houses  regularly  built  —  the  ladies  and 
gentlemen  gay  in  their  dress;  upon  the  whole  you  will 
find  as  many  agreeable  people  of  both  sexes  for  the  size 
of  the  place  as  almost  any  where.  .  .  ."6 

Companies  great  enough  to  give  the  modern  house 
wife  nervous  prostration  were  often  entertained  at 
dinners,  while  many  of  the  planters  kept  such  open 
house  that  no  account  was  kept  of  the  number  of  guests 
who  came  and  went  daily  and  who  commonly  made 
themselves  so  much  at  home  that  the  host  or  hostess 

1  Ravenel:   Eliza  Pinckney,  p.  227. 
•Ravenel:   Eliza  Pinckney,  p.  13. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Social  Life  183 

often  scarcely  disturbed  them  throughout  their  entire 
stay.  Several  years  after  the  Revolution  George  Wash 
ington  recorded  in  his  diary  the  surprising  fact  that  for 
the  first  time  since  he  and  Martha  Washington  had 
returned  to  Mount  Vernon,  they  had  dined  alone.  As 
Wharton  says  in  her  Martha  Washington,  "  Warm 
hearted,  open-handed  hospitality  was  constantly  exercised 
at  Mount  Vernon,  and  if  the  master  humbly  recorded 
that,  although  he  owned  a  hundred  cows,  he  had  some 
times  to  buy  butter  for  his  family,  the  entry  seems  to 
have  been  made  in  no  spirit  of  fault  finding."  Of  this 
same  Washingtonian  hospitality  one  French  traveller, 
Brissot  de  Warville,  wrote:  "  Every  thing  has  an  air  of 
simplicity  in  his  [Washington's]  house;  his  table  is  good, 
but  not  ostentatious;  and  no  deviation  is  seen  from 
regularity  and  domestic  economy.  Mrs.  Washington 
superintends  the  whole,  and  joins  to  the  qualities  of  an 
excellent  housewife  that  simple  dignity  which  ought  to 
characterize  a  woman  whose  husband  has  acted  the 
greatest  part  on  the  theater  of  human  affairs;  while  she 
possesses  that  amenity  and  manifests  that  attention  to 
strangers  which  renders  hospitality  so  charming."7 

With  such  hospitality  there  seemed  to  go  a  certain 
elevation  in  the  social  life  of  Virginia  and  South  Carolina 
entirely  different  from  the  corrupt  conditions  found  in 
Louisiana  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  also  in  con 
trast  with  the  almost  cautious  manner  in  which  the  New 
Englanders  of  the  same  period  tasted  pleasure.  In 
those  magnificent  Southern  houses  —  Quincey  speaks  of 
one  costing  £8000,  a  sum  fully  equal  in  modern  buying 
capacity  to  $100,000  —  there  was  much  stately  dancing, 

7  Wharton:   Martha  Washington,  p.  166. 


184  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

almost  an  extreme  form  of  etiquette,  no  little  genuine 
art,  and  music  of  exceptional  quality.  The  Charleston 
St.  Cecilia  Society,  organized  in  1737,  gave  numerous 
amateurs  opportunities  to  hear  and  perform  the  best 
musical  compositions  of  the  day,  and  its  annual  concerts, 
continued  until  1822,  were  scarcely  ever  equalled  else 
where  in  America,  during  the  same  period.  In  the 
aristocratic  circles  formal  balls  were  frequent,  and  were 
exceedingly  brilliant  affairs.  Eliza  Pinckney,  describ 
ing  one  in  1742,  says:  "...  The  Govr  gave  the  Gentn 
a  very  gentile  entertainment  at  noon,  and  a  ball  at  night 
for  the  ladies  on  the  Kings  birthnight,  at  wch  was  a 
Crowded  Audience  of  Gentn  and  ladies.  I  danced  a 
minuet  with  yr  old  acquaintance  Capt  Brodrick  who  was 
extreamly  glad  to  see  one  so  nearly  releated  to  his  old 
friend.  .  .  ."8  Ravenel  in  her  Eliza  Pinckney  recon 
structs  from  her  notes  a  picture  of  one  of  those  dignified 
balls  or  fetes  in  the  olden  days : 

"  On  such  an  occasion  as  that  referred  to,  a  reception 
for  the  young  bride  who  had  just  come  from  her  own 
stately  home  of  Ashley  Hall,  a  few  miles  down  the  river, 
the  guests  naturally  wore  all  their  braveries.  Their 
dresses,  brocade,  taffety,  lute-string,  etc.,  were  well 
drawn  up  through  their  pocket  holes.  Their  slippers, 
to  match  their  dresses,  had  heels  even  higher  and  more 
unnatural  than  our  own.  .  .  .  With  bows  and  courtesies, 
and  by  the  tips  of  their  fingers,  the  ladies  were  led  up  the 
high  stone  steps  to  the  wide  hall,  .  .  .  and  then  up  the 
stair  case  with  its  heavy  carved  balustrade  to  the  panelled 
rooms  above.  .  .  .  Then,  the  last  touches  put  to  the 
heads  (too  loftily  piled  with  cushions,  puffs,  curls,  and 

8  Ravenel:   E.  Pinckney,  p.  20. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Social  Life  185 

lappets,  to  admit  of  being  covered  with  anything  more 
than  a  veil  or  a  hood).  .  .  .  Gay  would  be  the  feast.  .  .  . 

"  The  old  silver,  damask  and  India  china  still  remain 
ing  show  how  these  feasts  were  set  out.  .  .  .  Miss  Lucas 
has  already  told  us  something  of  what  the  country  could 
furnish  in  the  way  of  good  cheer,  and  we  may  be  sure 
that  venison  and  turkey  from  the  forest,  ducks  from  the 
rice  fields,  and  fish  from  the  river  at  their  doors,  were 
there.  .  .  .  Turtle  came  from  the  West  Indies,  with 
1  saffron  and  negroe  pepper,  very  delicate  for  dressing 
it.'  Rice  and  vegetables  were  in  plenty  —  terrapins 
in  every  pond,  and  Carolina  hams  proverbially  fine. 
The  desserts  were  custards  and  creams  (at  a  wedding 
always  bride  cake  and  floating  island),  jellies,  syllabubs, 
puddings  and  pastries.  .  .  .  They  had  port  and  claret 
too  .  .  .  and  for  suppers  a  delicious  punch  called 
'  shrub,'  compounded  of  rum,  pineapples,  lemons,  etc., 
not  to  be  commended  by  a  temperance  society. 

"  The  dinner  over,  the  ladies  withdrew,  and  before 
very  long  the  scraping  of  the  fiddlers  would  call  the 
gentlemen  to  the  dance,  —  pretty,  graceful  dances,  the 
minuet,  stately  and  gracious,  which  opened  the  ball; 
and  the  country  dance,  fore-runner  of  our  Virginia  reel, 
in  which  every  one  old,  and  young  joined."9 

It  is  little  wonder  that  Eliza  Pinckney,  upon  returning 
from  just  such  a  social  function  to  take  up  once  more  the 
heavy  routine  of  managing  three  plantations,  complained : 
"  At  my  return  thither  every  thing  appeared  gloomy  and 
lonesome,  I  began  to  consider  what  attraction  there  was 
in  this  place  that  used  so  agreeably  to  soothe  my  pensive 
humor,  and  made  me  indifferent  to  everything  the  gay 

•  Pages  46-48. 


186  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

world  could  boast;  but  I  found  the  change  not  in  the 
place  but  in  myself."10 

The  domestic  happiness  found  in  these  plantation 
mansions  was  apparently  ideal.  Families  were  generally 
large;  there  was  much  inter-marriage,  generation  after 
generation,  within  the  aristocratic  circle;  and  thus 
everybody  was  related  to  everybody.  This  gave  an 
excuse  for  an  amount  of  informal  and  prolonged  visiting 
that  would  be  almost  unpardonable  in  these  more 
practical  and  in  some  ways  more  economical  days. 
There  was  considerable  correspondence  between  the 
families,  especially  among  the  women,  and  by  means  of 
the  numerous  references  to  visits,  past  or  to  come,  we 
may  picture  the  friendly  cordial  atmosphere  of  the  time. 
Washington,  for  instance,  records  that  he  "  set  off  with 
Mrs.  Washington  and  Patsy,  Mr.  Wtarner]  Washington 
and  wife,  Mrs.  Bushrod  and  Miss  Washington,  and  Mr. 
Magowen  for  '  Towelston,'  in  order  to  stand  for  Mr.  B. 
Fairfax's  third  son,  which  I  did  with  my  wife,  Mr. 
Warner  Washington  and  his  lady."  "  Another  day  he 
returns  from  attending  to  the  purchase  of  western  lands 
to  find  that  Col.  Bassett,  his  wife  and  children,  have 
arrived  during  his  absence,  '  Billy  and  Nancy  and  Mr. 
Warner  Washington  being  here  also/  The  next  day 
the  gentlemen  go  a-hunting  together,  Mr.  Bryan  Fairfax 
having  joined  them  for  the  hunt  and  trfe  dinner  that 
followed." 

Again,  we  find  Mrs.  Washington  writing,  with  her 
usual  unique  spelling  and  sentence  structure,  to  her 
sister : 

10Ravenel:    Eliza  Pinckney,  p.  49. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Social  Life  187 

"  Mt.  Vernon  Aug  28  1762. 

"MY  DEAR  NANCY,  —  I  had  the  pleasure  to  receive 
your  kind  letter  of  the  25  of  July  just  as  I  was  setting 
out  on  a  visit  to  Mr.  Washington  in  Westmoreland 
where  I  spent  a  weak  very  agreabley  I  carried  my  little 
patt  with  me  and  left  Jackey  at  home  for  a  trial  to 
see  how  well  I  could  stay  without  him  though  we  ware 
gone  but  won  fortnight  I  was  quite  impatient  to  get 
home.  If  I  at  aney  time  heard  the  doggs  barke  or  a 
noise  out,  I  thought  thair  was  a  person  sent  for  me.  .  .  . 
"  We  are  daly  expect  (ing)  the  kind  laydes  of  Maryland 
to  visit  us.  I  must  begg  you  will  not  lett  the  fright 
you  had  given  you  prevent  you  comeing  to  see  me  again 
-  If  I  coud  leave  my  children  in  as  good  Care  as  you 
can  I  would  never  let  Mr.  W  —  n  come  down  without 
me  —  Please  to  give  my  love  to  Miss  Judy  and  your 
little  babys  and  make  my  best  compliments  to  Mr. 
Bassett  and  Mrs.  Dawson. 
"  I  am  with  sincere  regard 

"  dear  sister 
"  yours  most  affectionately 

"  MARTHA  WASHINGTON."11 

Because  of  the  lack  of  good  roads  and  the  apparently 
great  distances,  the  mere  matter  of  travelling  was  far 
more  important  in  social  activities  than  is  the  case  in 
our  day  of  break-neck  speed.  A  ridiculously  small 
number  of  miles  could  be  covered  in  a  day;  there  were 
frequent  stops  for  rest  and  refreshment;  and  the  occu 
pants  of  the  heavy,  rumbling  coaches  had  ample  op 
portunity  for  observing  the  scenery  and  the  peculiarities 

»  Wharton:   Martha  Washington,  p.  56. 


188  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

of  the  territory  traversed.  Martha  Washington's  grand 
son  has  left  an  account  of  her  journey  from  Virginia  to 
New  York,  and  recounts  how  one  team  proved  balky, 
delayed  the  travellers  two  hours,  and  thus  upset  all  their 
calculations.  But  the  kindness  of  those  they  met  easily 
offset  such  petty  irritations  as  stubborn  horses  and 
slow  coaches.  Note  these  lines  from  the  account: 

"  We  again  set  out  for  Major  Snowden's  where  we 
arrived  at  4  o'clock  in  the  evening.  The  gate  (was) 
hung  between  2  trees  which  were  scarcely  wide  enough  to 
admit  it.  We  were  treated  with  great  hospitality  and 
civility  by  the  major  and  his  wife  who  were  plain  people 
and  made  every  effort  to  make  our  stay  as  agreeable  as 
possible. 

"  May  19th.  This  morning  was  lowering  and  looked 
like  rain  —  we  were  entreated  to  stay  all  day  but  to  no 
effect  we  had  made  our  arrangements  &  it  was  impos 
sible.  .  .  .  Majr  Snowden  accompanied  us  10  or  a  dozen 
miles  to  show  a  near  way  and  the  best  road.  .  .  .  We 
proceeded  as  far  as  Spurriers  ordinary  and  there  re 
freshed  ourselves  and  horses.  .  .  .  Mrs.  Washington 
shifted  herself  here,  expecting  to  be  met  by  numbers  of 
gentlemen  out  of  B  —  re  —  (Baltimore)  in  which  time 
we  had  everything  in  reddiness,  the  carriage,  horses, 
etc.,  all  at  the  door  in  waiting."12 

The  story  of  that  journey,  now  made  in  a  few  hours, 
is  filled  with  interesting  light  upon  the  ways  of  the  day : — 
the  numerous  accidents  to  coaches  and  horses,  the  dan 
gers  of  crossing  rivers  on  flimsy  ferries,  the  hospitality  of 
the  people,  who  sent  messengers  to  insist  that  the  party 
should  stop  at  the  various  homes,  the  strange  mingling 

12Wharton:    Martha  Washington,  p.  186. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Social  Life  189 

of  the  uncouth,  the  totally  wild,  and  the  highly  civilized 
and  cultured.  Probably  at  no  other  time  in  the  world's 
history  could  so  many  stages  of  man's  progress  and  con 
quest  of  nature  be  seen  simultaneously  as  in  America 
of  the  eighteenth  century. 

IV.     New  England  Social  Life 

Turning  to  New  England,  we  find  of  course  that  under 
the  early  Puritan  regime  amusements  were  decidedly 
under  the  ban.  We  have  noted  under  the  discussion  of 
the  home  the  strictness  of  New  England  views,  and  how 
this  strictness  influenced  every  phase  of  public  and 
private  life.  Indeed,  at  this  time  life  was  largely  a 
preparation  for  eternity,  and  the  ethical  demands  of 
the  day  gave  man  an  abnormally  tender  and  sensitive 
conscience.  When  Nathaniel  Mather  declared  in  ma 
ture  years  that  of  all  his  manifold  sins  none  so  stuck  upon 
him  as  that,  when  a  boy,  he  whittled  on  the  Sabbath  day, 
and  did  it  behind  the  door  — "  a  great  reproach  to 
God "  -  he  was  but  illustrating  the  strange  atmos 
phere  of  fear,  reverence,  and  narrowness  of  his  era. 

And  yet,  those  earlier  settlers  of  Plymouth  and  Boston 
were  a  kindly,  simple-hearted,  good-natured  people. 
It  is  evident  from  Judge  Sewall's  Diary  that  everybody 
in  a  community  knew  everybody  else,  was  genuinely 
interested  in  everyone's  welfare,  and  was  always  ready 
with  a  helping  hand  in  days  of  affliction  and  sorrow. 
All  were  drawn  together  by  common  dangers  and  com 
mon  ties;  it  was  a  a  excellent  example  of  true  community 
interest  and  co-operation.  This  genuine  solicitude 
for  others,  this  desire  to  know  how  other  sections  were 
getting  along,  this  natural  curiosity  to  inquire  about 


190  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

other  people's  health,  defenses  against  common  dangers, 
and  advancement  in  agriculture,  trade  and  manufactur 
ing,  led  to  a  form  of  inquisitiveness  that  astonished  and 
angered  foreigners.  Late  in  the  eighteenth  century  even 
Americans  began  to  notice  this  proverbial  Yankee  trait. 
Samuel  Peters,  writing  in  1781  in  his  General  History  of 
Connecticut,  said:  "After  a  short  aquaintance  they 
become  very  familiar  and  inquisitive  about  news. 
'  Who  are  you,  whence  come  you,  where  going,  what  is 
your  business,  and  what  your  religion?  '  They  do  not 
consider  these  and  similar  questions  as  impertinent, 
and  consequently  expect  a  civil  answer.  When  the 
stranger  has  satisfied  their  curiosity  they  will  treat  him 
with  all  the  hospitality  in  their  power." 

Fisher  in  his  Men,  Women,  &  Manners  in  Colonial 
Times  declares:  "  A  .  .  .  Virginian  who  had  been  much 
in  New  England  in  colonial  times  used  to  relate  that  as 
soon  as  he  arrived  at  an  inn  he  always  summoned  the 
master  and  mistress,  the  servants  and  all  the  strangers 
who  were  about,  made  a  brief  statement  of  his  life  and 
occupation,  and  having  assured  everybody  that  they 
could  know  no  more,  asked  for  his  supper;  and  Franklin, 
when  travelling  in  New  England,  was  obliged  to  adopt 
the  same  plan."13 

Old  Judge  Sewall,  a  typical  specimen  of  the  better 
class  Puritan,  certainly  possessed  a  kindly  curiosity 
about  his  neighbors'  welfare,  and  many  are  his  references 
to  visits  to  the  sick  or  dying,  or  to  attendance  at  funerals. 
While  there  were  no  great  balls  nor  brilliant  f6tes,  as 
in  the  South,  his  Diary  emphatically  proves  that  there 
were  many  pleasant  visits  and  dinner  parties  and  a  great 

"  Page  205. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Social  Life  191 

deal  of  the  inevitable  courting.  Thus,  we  note  the  fol 
lowing:  "  Tuesday,  January  12.  I  dine  at  the  Gover- 
nour's:  where  Mr.  West,  Governour  of  Carolina,  Capt. 
Blackwell,  his  Wife  and  Daughter,  Mr.  Morgan,  his 
Wife  and  Daughter  Mrs.  Brown,  Mr.  Eliakim  Hutchin- 
son  and  Wife.  .  .  .  Mrs.  Mercy  sat  not  down,  but  came 
in  after  dinner  well  dressed  and  saluted  the  two  Daugh 
ters.  Madm  Bradstreet  and  Blackwell  sat  at  the  upper 
end  together,  Governour  at  the  lower  end."14 

"  Dec.  20,  1676  .  .  .  Mrs.  Usher  lyes  very  sick  of  an 
Inflammation  in  the  Throat.  .  .  .  Called  at  her  House 
coming  home  to  tell  Mr.  Fosterling's  Receipt,  i.  e.  A 
Swallows  Nest  (the  inside)  stamped  and  applied  to  the 
throat  outwardly."15 

"Satterday,  June  5th,  1686.  I  rode  to  Newbury, 
to  see  my  little  Hull,  and  to  keep  out  of  the  way  of  the 
Artillery  Election,  on  which  day  eat  Strawberries  and 
Cream  with  Sister  Longfellow  at  the  Falls."16 

"  Monday,  July  11.  I  hire  Ems's  Coach  in  the 
Afternoon,  wherein  Mr.  Hez.  Usher  and  his  wife,  and 
Mrs.  Bridget  her  daughter,  my  Self  and  wife  ride  to 
Roxbury,  visit  Mr.  Dudley,  and  Mr.  Eliot,  the  Father 
who  blesses  them.  Go  and  sup  together  at  the  Gray- 
hound  Tavern  with  boil'd  Bacon  and  rost  Fowls.  Came 
home  between  10  and  11  brave  Moonshine,  were  hinder Jd 
an  hour  or  two  by  Mr.  Usher,  else  had  been  in  good 
season."17 

"  Thorsday,  Oct.  6,  1687  ...  On  my  Unkle's  Horse 
after  Diner,  I  carry  my  wife  to  see  the  Farm,  where  we 

"Vol.  I,  p.  116. 
»  Vol.  I,  p.  31. 
»•  Vol.  I,  p.  143. 
"  Vol.  I,  p.  171. 


192  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

eat  Aples  and  drank  Cider.  Shew'd  her  the  Meeting 
house.  ...  In  the  Morn  Oct.  7th  Unkle  and  Goodm. 
Brown  come  our  way  home  accompanying  of  us.  Set 
out  after  nine,  and  got  home  before  three.  Call'd  no 
where  by  the  way.  Going  out,  our  Horse  fell  down  at 
once  upon  the  Neck,  and  both  fain  to  scramble  off,  yet 
neither  receiv'd  any  hurt.  .  .  ,"18 

Nearly  a  century  later  Judge  Pynchon  records  a 
social  life  similar,  though  apparently  much  more  liberal 
in  its  views  of  what  might  enter  into  legitimate  enter 
tainment  : 

"  Saturday,  July  7,  1784.  Dine  at  Mr.  Wickkham's, 
with  Mrs.  Browne  and  her  two  daughters.  ...  In  the 
afternoon  Mrs.  Browne  and  I,  the  Captain,  Blaney,  and 
a  number  of  gentlemen  and  ladies,  ride,  and  some  walk 
out,  some  to  Malbon's  Garden,  some  to  Redwood's, 
several  of  us  at  both;  are  entertained  very  agreeably  at 
each  place;  tea,  coffee,  cakes,  syllabub,  and  English 
beer,  etc.,  punch  and  wine.  We  return  at  evening; 
hear  a  song  of  Mrs.  Shaw's,  and  are  highly  entertained; 
the  ride,  the  road,  the  prospects,  the  gardens,  the 
company,  in  short,  everything  was  most  agreeable,  most 
entertaining  —  was  admirable."19 

"  Thursday,  October  25,  1787  .  .  .  Mrs.  Pynchon, 
Mrs.  Orne,  and  Betsy  spend  the  evening  at  Mrs.  Ander 
son's;  musick  and  dancing."20 

"  Monday,  November  10,  1788  .  .  .  Mrs.  Gibbs, 
Curwen,  Mrs.  Paine,  and  others  spend  the  evening  here, 
also  Mr.  Gibbs,  at  cards."21 

"Vol.  I,  p.  191. 

19  Diary,  p.  189. 

20  Diary,  p.  289. 

21  Diary,  p.  321. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Social  Life  193 

"  Friday,  April  19  1782.  Some  rain.  A  concert  at 
night;  musicians  from  Boston,  and  dancing."22 

"  June  24,  Wednesday,  1778.  Went  with  Mrs.  Orne 
[his  daughter]  to  visit  Mr.  Sewall  and  lady  at  Manchester, 
and  returned  on  Thursday."23 

V.     Funerals  as  Recreations 

Even  toward  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
however,  lecture  days  and  fast  days  were  still  rather 
conscientiously  observed,  and  such  occasions  were  as 
much  a  part  of  New  England  social  activities  as  were 
balls  and  receptions  in  Virginia.  Judge  Pynchon  makes 
frequent  note  of  such  religious  meetings;  as,  —  "  April 
25,  Thursday,  1782.  Fast  Day.  Service  at  Church, 
A.  M.;  none,  P.  M."24  "  Thursday,  July  20,  1780. 
Fast  Day;  clear."25  Funerals  and  weddings  formed  no 
small  part  of  the  social  interests  of  the  day,  and  indeed 
the  former  apparently  called  for  much  more  display  and 
formality  than  was  ever  the  case  in  the  South.  There 
seems  to  have  been  among  the  Puritans  a  certain  grim 
pleasure  in  attending  a  burial  service,  and  in  the  absence 
of  balls,  dancing,  and  card  playing,  the  importance  of 
the  New  England  funeral  in  early  social  life  can  scarcely 
be  overestimated.  During  the  time  of  Sewall  the  burial 
was  an  occasion  for  formal  invitation  cards;  gifts  of 
gloves,  rings,  and  scarfs  were  expected  for  those  attend 
ing;  and  the  air  of  depression  so  common  in  a  twentieth 
century  funeral  was  certainly  not  conspicuous.  It  may 
have  been  because  death  was  so  common;  for  the  death 

"  Diary,  p.  119. 
»•  Diary,  p.  54. 
M  Diary,  p.   121. 
24  Diary,  p.  69. 


194  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

rate  was  frightfully  high  in  those  good  old  days,  and  in 
a  community  so  thinly  populated  burials  were  so  ex 
tremely  frequent  that  every  one  from  childhood  was 
accustomed  to  the  sight  of  crepe  and  coffin.  Man  is  a 
gregarious  creature  and  craves  the  assembly,  and  as 
church  meetings,  weddings,  executions,  and  funerals 
were  almost  the  sole  opportunities  for  social  intercourse, 
the  flocking  to  the  house  of  the  dead  was  but  normal  and 
natural.  Sewall  seems  to  have  been  in  constant  attend 
ance  at  such  gatherings: 

"  Midweek,  March  23,  1714-5.  Mr.  Addington 
buried  from  the  Council-Chamber  ...  20  of  the 
Council  were  assisting,  it  being  the  day  for  Appointing 
Officers.  All  had  Scarvs.  Bearers  Scarvs,  Rings, 
Escutcheons.  .  .  ,"26 

"  My  Daughter  is  Inter'd.  .  .  .  Had  Gloves  and 
Rings  of  2  pwt  and  >£.  Twelve  Ministers  of  the  Town 
had  Rings,  and  two  out  of  Town.  .  .  ,"27 

"  Tuesday,  18,  Novr.  1712.  Mr.  Benknap  buried. 
Joseph  was  invited  by  Gloves,  and  had  a  scarf  given  him 
there,  which  is  the  first."28 

"  Feria  sexta,  April  8,  1720.  Govr.  Dudley  is  buried 
in  his  father  Govr.  Dudley's  Tomb  at  Roxbury.  Boston 
and  Roxbury  Regiments  were  under  Arms,  and  2  or  3 
Troops.  .  .  .  Scarves,  Rings,  Gloves,  Escutcheons.  .  .  . 
Judge  Dudley  in  a  mourning  Cloak  led  the  Widow; 
.  .  .  Were  very  many  People,  spectators  out  of  windows, 
on  Fences  and  Trees,  like  Pigeons.  .  .  ,"29 

»  Vol.  Ill,  p.  43. 
"  Vol.  Ill,  p.  341. 
"Vol.  II,  p.  367. 
»  Vol.  Ill,  p.  7. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Social  Life  195 

"  July  25th,  1700.  Went  to  the  Funeral  of  Mrs. 
Sprague,  being  invited  by  a  good  pair  of  Gloves."30 

This  comment  is  made  upon  the  death  of  Judge 
Sewall's  father: 

"  May  24th.  .  .  .  My  Wife  provided  Mourning  upon 
my  Letter  by  Severs.  All  went  in  mourning  save 
Joseph,  who  staid  at  home  because  his  Mother  lik'd  not 
his  cloaths.  .  .  ."3l 

"  Febr.  1,  1700.  Waited  on  the  Lt.  Govr.  and  pre 
sented  him  with  a  Ring  in  Remembrance  of  my  dear 
Mother,  saying,  Please  to  accept  in  the  Name  of  one  of 
the  Company  your  Honor  is  preparing  to  go."32 

"  July  15,  1698.  ...  On  death  of  John  Ive.  ...  I 
was  not  at  his  Funeral.  Had  Gloves  sent  me,  but  the 
knowledge  of  his  notoriously  wicked  life  made  me  sick 
of  going  .  .  .  and  so  I  staid  at  home,  and  by  that 
means  lost  a  Ring.  .  .  ,"33 

"  Friday,  Feb.  10,  1687-8.  Between  4  and  5  I  went 
to  the  Funeral  of  the  Lady  Andros,  having  been  invited 
by  the  Clerk  of  the  South  Company.  Between  7  and  8 
Lechus  (Lynchs?  i.  e.  links  or  torches)  illuminating  the 
cloudy  air.  The  Corps  was  carried  into  the  Herse  drawn 
by  Six  Horses.  The  Souldiers  making  a  Guard  from 
the  Governour's  House  down  the  Prison  Lane  to  the 
South  Meeting-house,  there  taken  out  and  carried  in  at 
the  western  dore,  and  set  in  the  Alley  before  the  pulpit, 
with  Six  Mourning  Women  by  it.  ...  Was  a  great 
noise  and  clamor  to  keep  people  out  of  the  House,  that 
might  not  rush  in  too  soon.  ...  On  Satterday  Feb.  11, 

"Vol.  II,  p.  14. 
si  Vol.  II,  p.  20. 
"Vol.  II,  p.  32. 
»  Vol.  I,  p.  481. 


196  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

the  mourning  cloth  of  the  Pulpit  is  taken  off  and  given 
to  Mr.  Willard."34 

"Satterday,  Nov.  12,  1687.  About  5  P.  M.  Mrs. 
Elisa  Saffen  is  entombed.  .  .  .  Mother  not  invited."35 

In  the  earlier  days  of  the  New  England  colonies  the 
gift  of  scarfs,  gloves,  and  rings  for  such  services  was 
almost  demanded  by  social  etiquette;  but  before  Judge 
SewalPs  death  the  custom  was  passing.  The  following 
passages  from  his  Diary  illustrate  the  change : 

"  Deer.  20,  feria  sexta.  .  .  .  Had  a  letter  brought 
me  of  the  Death  of  Sister  Shortt.  .  .  .  Not  having  other 
Mourning  I  look'd  out  a  pair  of  Mourning  Gloves.  An 
hour  or  2  later  Mr.  Sergeant,  sent  me  and  Wife  Gloves; 
mine  are  so  little  I  can't  wear  them."36 

"  August  7r  16,  1721.  Mrs.  Frances  Webb  is  buried, 
who  died  of  the  Small  Pox.  I  think  this  is  the  first 
public  Funeral  without  Scarves.  .  .  ,"37 

The  Puritans  were  not  the  only  colonists  to  celebrate 
death  with  pomp  and  ceremony;  but  no  doubt  the  cus 
tom  was  far  more  nearly  universal  among  them  than 
among  the  New  Yorkers  or  Southerners.  Still,  in  New 
Amsterdam  a  funeral  was  by  no  means  a  simple  or  dreary 
affair;  feasting,  exchange  of  gifts,  and  display  were 
conspicuous  elements  at  the  burial  of  the  wealthy  or 
aristocratic.  The  funeral  of  William  Lovelace  in  1689 
may  serve  as  an  illustration: 

"  The  room  was  draped  with  mourning  and  adorned 
with  the  escutcheons  of  the  family.  At  the  head  of  the 
body  was  a  pall  of  death's  heads,  and  above  and  about  the 

M  Vol.  I,  p.  202. 
"Vol.  I,  p.  195. 
»«  Vol.  II,  p.  175. 
»'  Vol.  Ill,  p.  292. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Social  Life  197 

hearse  was  a  canopy  richly  embroidered,  from  the  centre 
of  which  hung  a  garland  and  an  hour-glass.  At  the 
foot  was  a  gilded  coat  of  arms,  four  feet  square,  and  near 
by  were  candles  and  fumes  which  were  kept  continually 
burning.  At  one  side  was  placed  a  cupboard  containing 
plate  to  the  value  of  £200.  The  funeral  procession  was 
led  by  the  captain  of  the  company  to  which  deceased 
belonged,  followed  by  the  '  preaching  minister/  two  others 
of  the  clergy,  and  a  squire  bearing  the  shield.  Before 
the  body,  which  was  borne  by  six  '  gentlemen  bachelors/ 
walked  two  maidens  in  white  silk,  wearing  gloves  and 
'  Cyprus  scarves/  and  behind  were  six  others  similarly 
attired,  bearing  the  pall.  .  .  .  Until  ten  o'clock  at  night 
wines,  sweet-meats,  and  biscuits  were  served  to  the 
mourners."38 

VI.     Trials  and  Executions 

Whenever  normal  pleasures  are  withdrawn  from  a 
community  that  community  will  undoubtedly  indulge 
in  abnormal  ones.  We  should  not  be  surprised,  there 
fore,  to  find  that  the  Puritans  had  an  itching  for  the 
details  of  the  morbid  and  the  sensational.  The  nature 
of  revelations  seldom,  if  ever,  grew  too  repulsive  for  their 
hearing,  and  if  the  case  were  one  of  adultery  or  incest, 
it  was  sure  to  be  well  aired.  There  was  a  possibility  that 
if  an  offender  made  a  thorough-going  confession  before 
the  entire  congregation  or  community,  he  might  escape 
punishment,  and  on  such  occasions  it  would  seem  that 
the  congregation  sat  listening  closely  and  drinking  in 
all  the  hideous  facts  and  minutiae.  The  good  fathers  in 
their  diaries  and  chronicles  not  only  have  mentioned  the 

88  Andrews:   Colonial  Self-Government,  p.  302,  American  Nation  Series. 


198  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

crimes  and  the  criminals,  but  have  enumerated  and 
described  such  details  as  fill  a  modern  reader  with  dis 
gust.  In  fact,  Winthrop  in  his  History  of  New  England 
has  cited  examples  and  circumstances  so  revolting  that 
it  is  impossible  to  quote  them  in  a  modern  book  intended 
for  the  general  public,  and  yet  Winthrop  himself  seemed 
to  see  nothing  wrong  in  offering  cold-bloodedly  the  exact 
data.  Such  indulgence  in  the  morbid  or  risque  was  not, 
however,  limited  to  the  New  England  colonists;  it  was 
entirely  too  common  in  other  sections;  but  among  the 
Puritan  writers  it  seemed  to  offer  an  outlet  for  emotions 
that  could  not  be  dissipated  otherwise  in  legitimate  social 
activities. 

To-day  the  spectacle  or  even  the  very  thought  of  a 
legal  execution  is  so  horrible  to  many  citizens  that  the 
state  hedges  such  occasions  about  with  the  utmost 
privacy  and  absence  of  publicity;  but  in  the  seventeenth 
century  the  Puritan  seems  to  have  found  considerable 
secret  pleasure  in  seeing  how  the  victim  faced  eternity. 
Condemned  criminals  were  taken  to  church  on  the  day 
of  execution,  and  there  the  clergyman,  dispensing  with 
the  regular  order  of  service,  frequently  consumed  several 
hours  thundering  anathema  at  the  wretch  and  describing 
to  him  his  awful  crime  and  the  yawning  pit  of  hell  in 
which  even  then  Satan  and  his  imps  were  preparing 
tortures.  If  the  doomed  man  was  able  to  face  all  this 
without  flinching,  the  audience  went  away  disappointed, 
feeling  that  he  was  hard-hearted,  stubborn,  "  predes 
tined  to  be  damned  ";  but  if  with  loud  lamentation  and 
wails  of  terror  he  confessed  his  sin  and  his  fear  of  God's 
vengeance,  his  hearers  were  pleased  and  edified  at  the 
fall  of  one  more  of  the  devil's  agents.  Often  times  a 


Colonial   Woman  and  Social  Life  199 

similar  scene  was  enacted  at  the  gallows,  where  a  host 
of  men,  women,  and  even  children  crowded  close  to  see 
and  hear  all.  Judge  Sewall  has  recorded  for  us  just  such 
an  event: 

"  Feria  Sexta,  June  30,  1704.  .  .  .  After  Diner, 
about  3  P.  M.  I  went  to  see  the  Execution.  .  .  .  Many 
were  the  people  that  saw  upon  Bloughton's  Hill.  But 
when  I  came  to  see  how  the  River  was  covered  with 
People,  I  was  amazed!  Some  say  there  were  100  Boats, 
150  Boats  and  Canoes,  saith  Cousin  Moody  of  York. 
He  told  them.  Mr.  Cotton  Mather  came  with  Capt. 
Quelch  and  six  others  for  Execution  from  the  Prison  to 
Scarlet's  Wharf,  and  from  thence.  .  .  .  When  the 
scaffold  was  hoisted  to  a  due  height,  the  seven  Male 
factors  went  up;  Mr.  Mather  pray'd  for  them  standing 
upon  the  Boat.  Ropes  were  all  fastened  to  the  Gallows 
(save  King,  who  was  Reprieved).  When  the  Scaffold 
was  let  to  sink,  there  was  such  a  Schreech  of  the  Women 
that  my  wife  heard  it  sitting  in  our  Entry  next  the 
Orchard,  and  was  much  surprised  at  it;  yet  the  wind  was 
sou-west.  Our  house  is  a  full  mile  from  the  place."39 

This  also  from  the  kindly  judge  indicates  the  interest 
in  the  last  service  for  the  condemned  one: 

"  Thursday,  March  11,  1685-6.  Persons  crowd  much 
into  the  Old  Meeting-House  by  reason  of  James  Morgan 
.  .  .  and  before  I  got  thither  a  crazed  woman  cryed 
the  Gallery  of  Meetinghouse  broke,  which  made  the 
people  rush  out,  with  great  Consternation,  a  great  part 
of  them,  but  were  seated  again.  .  .  .  Morgan  was  turned 
off  about  ^2  hour  past  five.  The  day  very  comfortable, 
but  now  9  o'clock  rains  and  has  done  a  good  while.  .  .  . 

»  Diary,  Vol.  II,  p.  109. 


200  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

Mr.  Cotton  Mather  accompanied  James  Morgan  to  the 
place  of  Execution,  and  prayed  with  him  there."40 

It  would  seem  that  the  Puritan  woman  might  have 
used  her  influence  by  refusing  to  attend  such  assemblies. 
Let  us  not,  however,  be  too  severe  on  her;  perhaps,  if 
such  a  confession  were  scheduled  for  a  day  in  our  twen 
tieth  century  the  confessor  might  not  face  empty  seats, 
or  simply  seats  occupied  by  men  only.  In  our  day, 
moreover,  with  its  multitude  of  amusements,  there  would 
be  far  less  excuse;  for  the  monotony  of  life  in  the  old 
days  must  have  set  nerves  tingling  for  something  just  a 
little  unusual,  and  such  barbarous  occasions  were  among 
the  few  opportunities. 

Gradually  amusements  of  a  more  normal  type  began 
to  creep  into  the  New  England  fold.  Judge  Sewall 
makes  the  following  comment:  "  Tuesday,  Jan.  7,  1719. 
The  Govr  has  a  ball  at  his  own  House  that  lasts  to  3  in 
the  Morn;  "41  but  he  does  not  make  an  additional  note 
of  his  attending  —  sure  proof  that  he  did  not  go.  Doubt 
less  the  hour  of  closing  seemed  to  him  scandalous.  Then, 
too,  early  in  the  eighteenth  century  the  dancing  master 
invaded  Boston,  and  doubtless  many  of  the  older  mem 
bers  of  the  Puritan  families  were  shocked  at  the  alacrity 
with  which  the  younger  folk  took  to  this  sinful  art. 
It  must  have  been  a  genuine  satisfaction  to  Sewall  to 
note  in  1685  that  "  Francis  Stepney,  the  Dancing  Master, 
runs  away  for  Debt.  Several  Attachments  out  after 
him."42  But  scowl  at  it  as  the  older  people  did,  they  had 
to  recognize  the  fact  that  by  1720  large  numbers  of  New 
England  children  were  learning  the  graceful,  old-fash- 

«°  Diary,  Vol.  I,  p.  125. 
<»  Diary,  Vol.  II,  p.  158. 
«2  Diary,  Vol.  I,  p.  145. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Social  Life  201 

ioned  dances  of  the  day,  and  that,  too,  with  the  consent 
of  the  parents. 

VII.     Special  "  Social  "  Days 

"  Lecture  Day,"  generally  on  Thursday,  was  another 
means  of  breaking  the  monotony  of  New  England 
colonial  existence.  It  resembled  the  Sabbath  in  that 
there  was  a  meeting  and  a  sermon  at  the  church,  and 
very  little  work  done  either  on  farm  or  in  town.  Com 
monly  banns  were  published  then,  and  condemned 
prisoners  preached  to  or  at.  For  instance,  Sewall 
notes:  "  Feb.  23,  1719-20.  Mr.  Cooper  comes  in,  and 
sits  with  me,  and  asks  that  he  may  be  published;  Next 
Thorsday  was  talk'd  of,  at  last,  the  first  Thorsday  in 
March  was  consented  to."43  On  Lecture  Day,  as  well 
as  on  the  Sabbath,  the  beautiful  custom  was  followed 
of  posting  a  note  or  bill  in  the  house  of  God,  requesting 
the  prayers  of  friends  for  the  sick  or  afflicted,  and  many 
a  fervent  petition  arose  to  God  on  such  occasions. 
Several  times  Sewall  refers  to  such  requests,  and  fre 
quently  indeed  he  felt  the  need  of  such  prayers  for  him 
self  and  his. 

"  Satterday,  Augt.  15.  Hambleton  and  my  Sister 
Watch  (his  eldest  daughter  was  ill).  I  get  up  before  2 
in  the  Morning  of  the  L(ecture)  Day,  and  hearing  an 
earnest  expostulation  of  my  daughter,  I  went  down  and 
finding  her  restless,  call'd  up  my  wife.  ...  I  put  up 
this  Note  at  the  Old  (First  Church)  and  South,  '  Prayers 
are  desired  for  Hanah  Sewall  as  drawing  Near  her 
end/  "44 

<»  Diary,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  244. 
«  Diary,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  341. 


202  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

And  when  his  wife  was  ill,  he  wrote:  "  Oct.  17,  1717. 
Thursday,  I  asked  my  wife  whether  'twere  best  for  me  to 
go  to  Lecture:  She  said,  I  can't  tell:  so  I  staid  at  home. 
Put  up  a  Note.  ...  It  being  my  Son's  Lecture,  and  I 
absent,  twas  taken  much  notice  of."45 

As  the  editor  of  the  famous  Diary  comments:  "  Judge 
Sewall  very  seldom  allowed  any  private  trouble  or 
sorrow,  and  he  never  allowed  any  matter  of  private 
business,  to  prevent  his  attendance  upon  '  Meeting,' 
either  on  the  Lord's  Day,  or  the  Thursday  Lecture. 
On  this  day,  on  account  of  the  alarming  illness  of  his 
wife  —  which  proved  to  be  fatal  —  he  remains  with 
her,  furnishing  his  son,  who  was  to  preach,  with  a  '  Note  ' 
to  be  '  put  up/  asking  the  sympathetic  prayers  of  the 
congregation  in  behalf  of  the  family.  He  is  touched  and 
gratified  on  learning  how  much  feeling  was  manifested 
on  the  occasion.  The  incident  is  suggestive  of  one  of  the 
beautiful  customs  once  recognized  in  all  the  New  Eng 
land  churches,  in  town  and  country,  where  all  the  mem 
bers  of  a  congregation,  knit  together  by  ties  and  sympa 
thies  of  a  common  interest,  had  a  share  in  each  other's 
private  and  domestic  experiences  of  joy  and  sorrow." 

Such  customs  added  to  the  social  solidarity  of  the 
people,  and  gave  each  New  England  community  a 
neighborliness  not  excelled  in  the  far  more  vari-colored 
life  of  the  South.  Fast  days  and  days  of  prayer,  observed 
for  thanks,  for  deliverance  from  some  danger  or  afflic 
tion,  petitions  for  aid  in  an  hour  of  impending  disaster, 
or  even  simply  as  a  means  of  bringing  the  soul  nearer  to 
God,  were  also  agencies  in  the  social  welfare  of  the  early 
colonists  and  did  much  to  keep  alive  community  spirit 

« Diary,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  143. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Social  Life  203 

and  co-operation.  Turning  again  to  Sewall,  we  find 
him  recording  a  number  of  such  special  days : 

"  Wednesday,  Oct.  3rd,  1688.  Have  a  day  of  Prayer 
at  our  House;  One  principal  reason  as  to  particular, 
about  my  going  for  England.  Mr.  Willard  pray'd  and 
preach'd  excellently.  .  .  .  Intermission.  Mr.  Allen 
pray'd,  and  then  Mr.  Moodey,  both  very  well,  then 
3d  —  7th  verses  of  the  86th  Ps.,  sung  Cambridge  Short 
Tune,  which  I  set.  .  .  ,"46 

"  Febr.  12.  I  pray'd  God  to  accept  me  in  keeping  a 
privat  day  of  Prayer  with  Fasting  for  That  and  other 
Important  Matters:  .  .  .  Perfect  what  is  lacking  in  my 
Faith,  and  in  the  faith  of  my  dear  Yokefellow.  Convert 
my  children;  especially  Samuel  and  Hanah;  Provide 
Rest  and  Settlement  for  Hanah;  Recover  Mary,  Save 
Judity,  Elisabeth  and  Joseph:  Requite  the  Labour  of 
Love  of  my  Kinswoman,  Jane  Tappin,  Give  her  health, 
find  out  Rest  for  her.  Make  David  a  man  after  thy 
own  heart,  Let  Susan  live  and  be  baptised  with  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  with  fire.  .  .  ,"47 

"  Third-day,  Augt.  13,  1695.  We  have  a  Fast  kept  in 
our  new  Chamber.  .  .  ,"48 

In  New  England  Thanksgiving  and  Christmas  were 
observed  at  first  only  to  a  very  slight  extent,  and  not  at 
all  with  the  regularity  and  ceremony  common  to-day. 
In  the  South,  Christmas  was  celebrated  without  fail 
with  much  the  same  customs  as  those  known  in  "  Merrie 
Old  England  ";  but  among  the  earlier  Puritans  a  large 
number  frowned  upon  such  special  days  as  inclining 
toward  Episcopal  and  Popish  ceremonials,  and  many  a 


«  Diary,  Vol.  I,  p.  228. 
«7  Diary,  Vol.  II.  p.  216. 
«•  Diary,  Vol.  I,  p.  410. 


204  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

Christmas  passed  with  scarcely  a  notice.  Bradford  in 
his  so-called  Log-Book  gives  us  this  description  of  such 
lack  of  observance  of  the  day: 

"  The  day  called  Christmas  Day  ye  Govr  cal'd  them 
out  to  worke  (as  was  used)  but  ye  moste  of  this  new 
company  excused  themselves,  and  said  yt  went  against 
their  consciences  to  work  on  yt  day.  So  ye  Govr  tould 
them  that  if  they  made  it  mater  of  conscience,  he  would 
spare  them  till  they  were  better  informed.  So  he  led 
away  ye  rest  and  left  them ;  but  when  they  came  home  at 
noon  from  their  work  he  found  them  in  ye  street  at  play 
openly,  some  pitching  ye  bar,  and  some  at  stool-ball  and 
such  like  sports.  So  he  went  to  them  and  took  away 
their  implements  and  tould  them  it  was  against  his 
conscience  that  they  should  play  and  others  work." 

And  Sewall  doubtless  would  have  agreed  with  "  ye 
Govr  ";  for  he  notes: 

"  Dec.  25,  1717.  Snowy  Cold  Weather;  Shops  open 
as  could  be  for  the  Storm;  Hay,  wood  and  all  sorts  of 
provisions  brought  to  Town."49 

"  Dec.  25,  Friday,  1685.  Carts  come  to  Town  and 
shops  open  as  is  usual.  Some  somehow  observe  the  day; 
but  are  vexed  I  believe  that  the  body  of  the  people 
profane  it,  and  blessed  be  God  no  authority  yet  to 
Compell  them  to  keep  it."50 

"  Tuesday,  Deer.  25,  1722-3.  Shops  are  open,  and 
Carts  came  to  Town  with  Wood,  Hoop-Poles,  Hay  & 
as  at  other  Times;  being  a  pleasant  day,  the  street  was 
fiU'd  with  Carts  and  Horses."51 

"  Midweek,  Deer.  25,  1718-9.     Shops  are  open,  Hay, 

"  Diary,  Vol.  I,  p.  157. 
&°  Diary,  Vol.  I,  p.  355. 
"  Diary,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  316. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Social  Life  205 

Hoop-poles,  Wood,  Faggots,  Charcole,  Meat  brought  to 
Town."52 

Nearly  a  century  later  all  that  Judge  Pynchon  records 
is: 

"  Fryday,  December  25,  1778.  Christmas.  Cold 
continued."53 

"  Monday,  December  25,  1780.  Christmas,  and 
rainy.  Dined  at  Mr.  Wetmore's  (his  daughter's  home) 
with  Mr.  Goodale  and  family,  John  and  Patty.  Mr. 
Barnard  and  Prince  at  church;  the  music  good,  and  Dr. 
Steward's  voice  above  all."54 

All  that  Sewall  has  to  say  about  Thanksgiving  is: 
"Thorsday,  Novr.  25.  Public  Thanksgiving,"55  and 
again:  "  1714.  Novr.  25.  Thanks-giving  day;  very 
cold,  but  not  so  sharp  as  yesterday.  My  wife  was  sick, 
fain  to  keep  the  Chamber  and  not  be  at  Diner." 

VIII.  Social  Restrictions 

Many  of  the  restraints  imposed  by  Puritan  law 
makers  upon  the  ordinary  hospitality  and  cordial  over 
tures  of  citizens  seem  ridiculous  to  a  modern  reader;  but 
perhaps  the  "  fathers  in  Israel  "  considered  such  strict 
ness  essential  for  the  preservation  of  the  saints.  Jos- 
selyn,  travelling  in  New  England  in  1638,  observed  in 
his  New  England's  Rareties  their  customs  rather  keenly, 
criticized  rather  severely  some  of  their  views,  and  com 
mended  just  as  heartily  some  of  their  virtues.  "  They 
that  are  members  of  their  churches  have  the  sacraments 
administered  to  them,  the  rest  that  are  out  of  the  pale 

M  Diary,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  394. 
"  Diary,  p.  60. 
M  Diary,  p.  81. 
»  Vol.  I,  p.  159. 


206  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

as  they  phrase  it  are  denied  it.  Many  hundred  souls 
there  be  amongst  them  grown  up  to  men  and  women's 
estate  that  were  never  christened.  .  .  .  There  are  many 
strange  women  too,  (in  Solomon's  sense),  more  the  pity; 
when  a  woman  hath  lost  her  chastity  she  hath  no  more 
to  lose.  There  are  many  sincere  and  religious  people 
amongst  them.  .  .  .  They  have  store  of  children  and  are 
well  accommodated  with  servants;  many  hands  make 
light  work,  many  hands  make  a  full  fraught,  but  many 
mouths  eat  up  all,  as  some  old  planters  have  experi 
enced." 

Approximately  a  century  later  the  keen-eyed  Sarah 
Knight  visited  New  Haven,  and  commented  in  her 
Journal  upon  the  growing  laxity  of  rules  and  customs 
among  the  people  of  the  quaint  old  town  : 

"  They  are  governed  by  the  same  laws  as  we  in  Boston 
(or  little  differing),  throughout  this  whole  colony  of 
Connecticut  .  .  .  but  a  little  too  much  independent  in 
their  principles,  and,  as  I  have  been  told,  were  formerly 
in  their  zeal  very  rigid  in  their  administrations  towards 
such  as  their  laws  made  offenders,  even  to  a  harmless  kiss 
or  innocent  merriment  among  young  people.  .  .  .  They 
generally  marry  very  young:  the  males  oftener,  as  I  am 
told,  under  twenty  than  above:  they  generally  make 
public  weddings,  and  have  a  way  something  singular 
(as  they  say)  in  some  of  them,  viz.,  just  before  joining 
hands  the  bride-groom  quits  the  place,  who  is  soon 
followed  by  the  bridesmen,  and  as  it  were  dragged  back 
to  duty  —  being  the  reverse  to  the  former  practice  among 
us,  to  steal  mistress  bride.  .  .  . 

"  They  (the  country  women)  generally  stand  after 
they  come  in  a  great  while  speechless,  and  sometimes 


Colonial   Woman  and  Social  Life  207 

don't  say  a  word  till  they  are  asked  what  they  want, 
which  I  impute  to  the  awe  they  stand  in  of  the  mer 
chants,  who  they  are  constantly  almost  indebted  to; 
and  must  take  that  they  bring  without  liberty  to  choose 
for  themselves;  but  they  serve  them  as  well,  making  the 
merchants  stay  long  enough  for  their  pay.  .  .  ." 

But  even  as  late  as  1780  Samuel  Peters  states  in  his 
General  History  of  Connecticut  that  he  found  the  restric 
tions  in  Connecticut  so  severe  that  he  was  forced  to 
state  that  "  dancing,  fishing,  hunting,  skating,  and  riding 
in  sleighs  on  the  ice  are  all  the  amusements  allowed  in 
this  colony." 

In  Massachusetts  for  many  years  in  the  seventeenth 
century  a  wife,  in  the  absence  of  her  husband,  was  not 
allowed  to  lodge  men  even  if  they  were  close  relatives. 
Naturally  such  an  absurd  law  was  the  source  of  much 
bickering  on  the  part  of  magistrates,  and  many  were  the 
amusing  tilts  when  a  wife  was  not  permitted  to  remain 
with  her  father,  but  had  to  be  sent  home  to  her  husband, 
or  a  brother  was  compelled  to  leave  his  own  sister's 
house.  Of  course,  we  may  turn  successfully  to  Sewall's 
Diary  for  an  example:  "  Mid-week,  May  12,  1714. 
Went  to  Brewster's.  The  Anchor  in  the  Plain;  .  .  . 
took  Joseph  Brewster  for  our  guide,  and  went  to  Town. 
Essay'd  to  be  quarter'd  at  Mr.  Knight's,  but  he  not  being 
at  home,  his  wife  refused  us."56  When  a  judge,  himself, 
was  refused  ordinary  hospitality,  we  may  surmise  that 
the  law  was  rather  strictly  followed.  But  many  other 
rules  of  the  day  seem  just  as  ridiculous  to  a  modern 
reader.  As  Weeden  in  his  Economic  and  Social  History 
of  New  England  says  of  restrictions  in  1650: 

*•  Vol.  Ill,  p.  1. 


208  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

"  No  one  could  run  on  the  Sabbath  day,  or  walk  in 
his  garden  or  elsewhere,  except  reverently  to  and  from 
meeting.  No  one  should  travel,  cook  victuals,  make 
beds,  sweep  house,  cut  hair,  or  shave  on  the  Sabbath  day. 
No  woman  should  kiss  her  child  on  the  Sabbath  or  fast 
ing  day.  Whoever  brought  cards  into  the  dominion 
paid  a  fine  of  £5.  No  one  could  make  minced  pies, 
dance,  play  cards,  or  play  on  any  instrument  of  music, 
except  the  drum,  trumpet,  and  jews-harp. 

"  None  under  21  years,  rior  any  not  previously  accus 
tomed  to  it,  shall  take  tobacco  without  a  physician's 
certificate.  No  one  shall  take  it  publicly  in  the  street, 
or  the  fields,  or  the  woods,  except  on  a  journey  of  at 
least  ten  miles,  or  at  dinner.  Nor  shall  any  one  take  it 
in  any  house  in  his  own  town  with  more  than  one  person 
taking  it  at  the  same  time."57 

We  must  not,  however,  reach  the  conclusion  that  life 
in  old  New  England  was  a  dreary  void  as  far  as  pleas 
ures  were  concerned.  Under  the  discussion  of  home 
life  we  have  seen  that  there  were  barn-raisings,  log 
rolling  contests,  quilting  and  paring  bees,  and  numerous 
other  forms  of  community  efforts  in  which  considerable 
levity  was  countenanced.  Earle's  Home  Life  in  Colonial 
Days  copies  an  account  written  in  1757,  picturing  another 
form  of  entertainment  yet  popular  in  the  rural  districts: 

"  Made  a  husking  Entertainm't.  Possibly  this  leafe 
may  last  a  Century  and  fall  into  the  hands  of  some 
inquisitive  Person  for  whose  Entertainm't  I  will  inform 
him  that  now  there  is  a  Custom  amongst  us  of  making 
an  Entertainm't  at  husking  of  Indian  Corn  where  to  all 
the  neighboring  Swains  are  invited  and  after  the  Corn  is 

•'  Vol.  I,  p.  223. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Social  Life  209 

finished  they  like  the  Hottentots  give  three  Cheers  or 
huzza's,  but  cannot  carry  in  the  husks  without  a  Rhum 
bottle;  they  feign  great  Exertion  but  do  nothing  till 
Rhum  enlivens  them,  when  all  is  done  in  a  trice,  then 
after  a  hearty  Meal  about  10  at  Night  they  go  to  their 
pastimes/'58 

IX.     Dutch  Social  Life 

In  New  York,  among  the  Dutch,  social  pleasures  were, 
of  course,  much  less  restricted;  indeed  their  community 
life  had  the  pleasant  familiarity  of  one  large  family. 
Mrs.  Grant  in  her  Memoirs  of  an  American  Lady  pic 
tures  the  almost  sylvan  scene  in  the  quaint  old  town, 
and  the  quiet  domestic  happiness  so  evident  on  every 
hand: 

"  Every  house  had  its  garden,  well,  and  a  little  green 
behind;  before  every  door  a  tree  was  planted,  rendered 
interesting  by  being  co-eval  with  some  beloved  member 
of  the  family;  many  of  their  trees  were  of  a  prodigious 
size  and  extraordinary  beauty,  but  without  regularity, 
every  one  planting  the  kind  that  best  pleased  with  him, 
or  which  he  thought  would  afford  the  most  agreeable 
shade  to  the  open  portion  at  his  door,  which  was  sur 
rounded  by  seats,  and  ascended  by  a  few  steps.  It  was 
in  these  that  each  domestic  group  was  seated  in  summer 
evenings  to  enjoy  the  balmy  twilight  or  the  serenely 
clear  moon  light.  Each  family  had  a  cow,  fed  in  a 
common  pasture  at  the  end  of  the  town.  In  the  evening 
the  herd  returned  all  together  .  .  .  with  their  tinkling 
bells  .  .  .  along  the  wide  and  grassy  street  to  their 
wonted  sheltering  trees,  to  be  milked  at  their  master's 

"  Page  136. 


210  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

doors.  Nothing  could  be  more  pleasing  to  a  simple  and 
benevolent  mind  than  to  see  thus,  at  one  view,  all  the 
inhabitants  of  the  town,  which  contained  not  one  very 
rich  or  very  poor,  very  knowing,  or  very  ignorant,  very 
rude,  or  very  polished,  individual;  to  see  all  these 
children  of  nature  enjoying  in  easy  indolence  or  social 
intercourse, 

'  The  cool,  the  fragrant,  and  the  dusky  hour/ 
clothed  in  the  plainest  habits,  and  with  minds  as  undis 
guised  and  artless.  ...  At  one  door  were  young  ma 
trons,  at  another  the  elders  of  the  people,  at  a  third  the 
youths  and  maidens,  gaily  chatting  or  singing  together 
while  the  children  played  round  the  trees."59 

With  little  learning  save  the  knowledge  of  how  to 
enjoy  life,  under  no  necessity  of  pretending  to  enjoy  a 
false  culture,  conforming  to  no  false  values  and  artifi 
cialities,  these  simple-hearted  people  went  their  quiet 
round  of  daily  duties,  took  a  normal  amount  of  pleasure, 
and  in  their  old-fashioned  way,  probably  lived  more 
than  any  modern  devotee  of  the  Wall  Street  they  knew 
so  well.  Madam  Knight  in  her  Journal  comments  upon 
them  in  this  fashion:  "  Their  diversion  in  the  winter  is 
riding  sleighs  about  three  or  four  miles  out  of  town, 
where  they  have  houses  of  entertainment  at  a  place  called 
the  Bowery,  and  some  go  to  friends'  houses,  who  hand 
somely  treat  them.  Mr.  Burroughs  carried  his  spouse 
and  daughter  and  myself  out  to  one  Madam  Dowes,  a 
gentlewoman  that  lived  at  a  farm  house,  who  gave  us  a 
handsome  entertainment  of  five  or  six  dishes,  and  choice 
beer  and  metheglin,  cider,  etc.,  all  of  which  she  said  was 
the  produce  of  her  farm.  I  believe  we  met  fifty  or  sixty 

"Page  33. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Social  Life  211 

sleighs;  they  fly  with  great  swiftness,  and  some  are  so 
furious  that  they  will  turn  out  of  the  path  for  none  except 
a  loaded  cart.  Nor  do  they  spare  for  any  diversion  the 
place  affords,  and  sociable  to  a  degree,  their  tables  being 
as  free  to  their  neighbors  as  to  themselves." 

And  Mrs.  Grant  has  this  to  say  of  their  love  of  chil- 
ren  and  flowers  —  probably  the  most  normal  loves  in  the 
human  soul:  "  Not  only  the  training  of  children,  but  of 
plants,  such  as  needed  peculiar  care  or  skill  to  rear  them, 
was  the  female  province.  ...  I  have  so  often  beheld, 
both  in  town  and  country,  a  respectable  mistress  of  a 
family  going  out  to  her  garden,  in  an  April  morning,  with 
her  great  calash,  her  little  painted  basket  of  seeds,  and 
her  rake  over  her  shoulder  to  her  garden  labors.  ...  A 
woman  in  very  easy  circumstances  and  abundantly 
gentle  in  form  and  manner  would  sow  and  plant  and  rake 
incessantly.  These  fair  gardners  were  also  great 
florists."60 

Doubtless  the  whole  world  has  heard  of  that  other 
Dutch  love  —  for  good  things  on  the  table.  This 
epicurean  trait  perhaps  has  been  exaggerated;  Mrs. 
Grant  herself  had  her  doubts  at  first;  but  she,  like  most 
visitors,  soon  realized  that  a  Dutchman's  "  tea  "  was  a 
fair  banquet.  Hear  again  her  own  words: 

"  They  were  exceedingly  social,  and  visited  each  other 
frequently,  besides  the  regular  assembling  together  in 
their  porches  every  evening. 

"  If  you  went  to  spend  a  day  anywhere,  you  were 
received  in  a  manner  we  should  think  very  cold.  No 
one  rose  to  welcome  you;  no  one  wondered  you  had  not 
come  sooner,  or  apologized  for  any  deficiency  in  your 

•°  Memoirs:  p.  29. 


212  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

entertainment.  Dinner,  which  was  very  early,  was 
served  exactly  in  the  same  manner  as  if  there  were  only 
the  family.  The  house  was  so  exquisitely  neat  and  well 
regulated  that  you  could  not  surprise  these  people ;  they 
saw  each  other  so  often  and  so  easily  that  intimates 
made  no  difference.  Of  strangers  they  were  shy;  not 
by  any  means  of  want  and  hospitality,  but  from  a  con 
sciousness  that  people  who  had  little  to  value  themselves 
on  but  their  knowledge  of  the  modes  and  ceremonies  of 
polished  life  disliked  their  sincerity  and  despised  their 
simplicity.  .  .  . 

"  Tea  was  served  in  at  a  very  early  hour.  And  here 
it  was  that  the  distinction  shown  to  strangers  com 
menced.  Tea  here  was  a  perfect  regale,  being  served 
up  with  various  sorts  of  cakes  unknown  to  us,  cold 
pastry,  and  great  quantities  of  sweet  meats  and  pre 
served  fruits  of  various  kinds,  and  plates  of  hickory  and 
other  nuts  ready  cracked.  In  all  manner  of  confection 
ery  and  pastry  these  people  excelled."61 

To  the  Puritan  this  manner  of  living  evidently  seemed 
ungodly,  and  perhaps  the  citizens  of  New  Amsterdam 
were  a  trifle  lax  not  only  in  their  appetite  for  the  things 
of  this  world,  but  also  in  their  indifference  toward  the 
Sabbath.  As  Madam  Knight  observes  in  her  Journal: 
"  There  are  also  Dutch  and  divers  conventicles,  as  they 
call  them,  viz.,  Baptist,  Quaker,  etc.  They  are  not 
strict  in  keeping  the  Sabbath,  as  in  Boston  and  other 
places  where  I  had  been,  but  seemed  to  deal  with  exact 
ness  as  far  as  I  see  or  deal  with." 

But  the  kindly  sociableness  of  these  Dutch  prevented 
any  decidedly  vicious  tendency  among  them,  and  went 

«  Memoirs:   p.  53. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Social  Life  213 

far  toward  making  amends  for  any  real  or  supposed 
laxity  in  religious  principles.  Even  as  children,  this 
social  nature  was  consciously  trained  among  them,  and 
so  closely  did  the  little  ones  become  attached  to  one 
another  that  marriage  meant  not  at  all  the  abrupt  change 
and  departure  from  former  ways  that  it  is  rather  com 
monly  considered  to  mean  to-day.  Says  Mrs.  Grant: 

"  The  children  of  the  town  were  all  divided  into 
companies,  as  they  called  them,  from  five  or  six  years  of 
age,  till  they  became  marriageable.  How  these  com 
panies  first  originated  or  what  were  their  exact  regula 
tions,  I  cannot  say;  though  I  belonging  to  nine  occa 
sionally  mixed  with  several,  yet  always  as  a  stranger, 
notwithstanding  that  I  spoke  their  current  language 
fluently.  Every  company  contained  as  many  boys  as 
girls.  But  I  do  not  know  that  there  was  any  limited 
number;  only  this  I  recollect,  that  a  boy  and  girl  of 
each  company,  who  were  older,  cleverer,  or  had  some 
other  pre-eminence  above  the  rest,  were  called  heads  of 
the  company,  and,  as  such,  were  obeyed  by  the  others. 
.  .  .  Each  company,  at  a  certain  time  of  the  year,  went 
in  a  body  to  gather  a  particular  kind  of  berries,  to  the 
hill.  It  was  a  sort  of  annual  festival,  attended  with 
religious  punctuality.  .  .  .  Every  child  was  permitted 
to  entertain  the  whole  company  on  its  birthday,  and 
once  besides,  during  the  winter  and  spring.  The  master 
and  mistress  of  the  family  always  were  bound  to  go  from 
home  on  these  occasions,  while  some  old  domestic  was 
left  to  attend  and  watch  over  them,  with  an  ample 
provision  of  tea,  chocolate,  preserved  and  dried  fruits, 
nuts  and  cakes  of  various  kinds,  to  which  was  added 
cider,  or  a  syllabub.  .  .  .  THe  consequence  of  these 


214  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

exclusive  and  early  intimacies  was  that,  grown  up,  it  was 
reckoned  a  sort  of  apostacy  to  marry  out  of  one's  com 
pany,  and  indeed  it  did  not  often  happen.  The  girls, 
from  the  example  of  their  mothers,  rather  than  any 
compulsion,  very  early  became  notable  and  industrious, 
being  constantly  employed  in  knitting  stockings  and 
making  clothes  for  the  family  and  slaves;  they  even 
made  all  the  boys'  clothes."62 

Childhood  in  New  England  meant,  as  we  have  seen,  a 
good  deal  of  down-right  hard  toil;  in  Virginia,  for  the 
better  class  child,  it  meant  much  dressing  in  dainty 
clothes,  and  much  care  about  manners  and  etiquette; 
but  the  Dutch  childhood  and  even  young  manhood 
and  womanhood  meant  an  unusual  amount  of  care-free, 
whole-hearted,  simple  pleasure.  There  were  picnics  in 
the  summer,  nut  gatherings  in  the  Autumn,  and  skating 
and  sleighing  in  the  winter. 

"  In  spring  eight  or  ten  of  one  company,  young  men 
and  maidens,  would  set  out  together  in  a  canoe  on  a  kind 
of  rural  excursion.  .  .  .  They  went  without  attendants. 
.  .  .  They  arrived  generally  by  nine  or  ten  o'clock.  .  .  . 
The  breakfast,  a  very  regular  and  cheerful  one,  occupied 
an  hour  or  two;  the  young  men  then  set  out  to  fish  or 
perhaps  to  shoot  birds,  and  the  maidens  sat  busily  down 
to  their  work.  .  .  .  After  the  sultry  hours  had  been  thus 
employed,  the  boys  brought  their  tribute  from  the  river. 
.  .  .  After  dinner  they  all  set  out  together  to  gather  wild 
strawberries,  or  whatever  fruit  was  in  season;  for  it  was 
accounted  a  reproach  to  come  home  empty-handed.  .  .  . 

"  The  young  parties,  or  some  times  the  elder  ones, 
who  set  out  on  this  woodland  excursion  had  no  fixed 

82  Memoirs  of  an  American  Lady,  p.  35. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Social  Life  215 

destination,  .  .  .  when  they  were  tired  of  going  on  the 
ordinary  road,  they  turned  into  the  bush,  and  wherever 
they  saw  an  inhabited  spot  .  .  .  they  went  into  with 
all  the  ease  of  intimacy.  .  .  .  The  good  people,  not  in 
the  least  surprised  at  this  intrusion,  very  calmly  opened 
the  reserved  apartments.  .  .  .  After  sharing  with  each 
other  their  food,  dancing  or  any  other  amusement  that 
struck  their  fancy  succeeded.  They  sauntered  about  the 
bounds  in  the  evening,  and  returned  by  moonlight.  .  .  . 

"  In  winter  the  river  .  .  .  formed  the  principal  road 
through  the  country,  and  was  the  scene  of  all  these 
amusements  of  skating  and  sledge  races  common  to  the 
north  of  Europe.  They  used  in  great  parties  to  visit 
their  friends  at  a  distance,  and  having  an  excellent 
and  hearty  breed  of  horses,  flew  from  place  to  place  over 
the  snow  or  ice  in  these  sledges  with  incredible  rapidity, 
stopping  a  little  while  at  every  house  they  came  to,  where 
they  were  always  well  received,  whether  acquainted  with 
the  owners  or  not.  The  night  never  impeded  these 
travellers,  for  the  atmosphere  was  so  pure  and  serene, 
and  the  snow  so  reflected  the  moon  and  starlight,  that 
the  nights  exceeded  the  days  in  beauty."63 

All  this  meant  so  much  more  for  the  growth  of  normal 
children  and  the  creation  of  a  cheerful  people  than  did  the 
Puritan  attendance  at  executions  and  funerals.  Those 
quaint  old-time  Dutch  probably  did  not  love  children 
any  more  dearly  than  did  the  New  Englanders;  but 
they  undoubtedly  made  more  display  of  it  than  did  the 
Puritans.  "  Orphans  were  never  neglected.  .  .  .  You 
never  entered  a  house  without  meeting  children.  Maid 
ens,  bachelors,  and  childless  married  people  all  adopted 

81  Grant:  Memoirs  of  an  American  Lady,  pp.  55-57. 


216  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

orphans,  and  all  treated  them  as  if  they  were  their 
own."64 

Since  we  have  mentioned  such  subjects  as  funerals 
and  orphans,  perhaps  it  would  not  be  out  of  place  to 
notice  the  peculiar  funeral  customs  among  the  Dutch. 
Even  a  burial  was  not  so  dreary  an  affair  with  them. 
The  following  bill  of  1763,  found  among  the  Schuyler 
papers,  gives  a  hint  of  the  manner  in  which  the  service 
was  conducted,  and  perhaps  explains  why  the  women 
scarcely  ever  attended  the  funeral  in  the  "  dead  room," 
as  it  was  called,  but  remained  in  an  upper  room,  where 
they  could  at  least  hear  what  was  said,  if  they  could  not 
"  partake  "  of  the  occasion: 

"  Tobacco  2. 

Fonda  for  Pipes  14s. 

2  casks  wine  69  gal.  11. 

12  yds.  Cloath  6. 

2  barrels  strong  beer  3. 

To  spice  from  Dr.  Stringer 

To  the  porters  2s. 

12  yds.  Bombazine  5.      17s. 

2  Tammise  1. 

1  Barcelona  handkerchief  10s. 

2  pr.  black  chamois  Gloves 
6  yds.  crape 

5  ells  Black  Shalloon 
Paid  Mr.  Benson  his  fee  for  opinion  on  will  <£9."65 

Certainly  the  custom  of  making  the  funeral  as  pleasant 
as  possible  for  the  visitors  had  not  passed  away  even  as 
late  as  the  days  of  the  Revolution;  for  during  that  war 
Tench  Tilghman  wrote  the  following  description  of  a 
burial  service  attended  by  him  in  New  York  City:  "  This 

64  Grant:   Memoirs,  p.  62. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Social  Life  217 

morning  I  attended  the  funeral  of  old  Mr.  Doer.  .  .  . 
This  was  something  in  a  stile  new  to  me.  The  Corpse 
was  carried  to  the  Grave  and  interred  with  out  any 
funeral  Ceremony,  the  Clergy  attended.  We  then 
returned  to  the  home  of  the  Deceased  where  we  found 
many  tables  set  out  with  Bottles,  cool  Tankards,  Candles, 
Pipes  &  Tobacco.  The  Company  sat  themselves  down 
and  lighted  their  Pipes  and  handed  the  Bottles  &  Tank 
ards  pretty  briskly.  Some  of  them  I  think  rather  too 
much  so.  I  fancy  the  undertakers  had  borrowed  all  the 
silver  plate  of  the  neighborhood.  Tankards  and  Candle 
Sticks  were  all  silver  plated."65 

X.     British  Social  Influences 

With  the  increase  of  the  English  population  New  York 
began  to  depart  from  its  normal,  quiet  round  of  social 
life,  and  entered  into  far  more  flashy,  but  far  less  health 
ful  forms  of  pleasure.  There  was  wealth  in  the  old  city 
before  the  British  flocked  to  it,  and  withal  an  atmosphere 
of  plenty  and  peaceful  enjoyment  of  life.  The  descrip 
tion  of  the  Schuyler  residence,  "  The  Flatts,"  presented 
in  Grant's  Memoirs,  probably  indicates  at  its  best  the 
home  life  of  the  wealthier  natives,  and  gives  hints  of  a 
wholesome  existence  which,  while  not  showy,  was  full 
of  comfort: 

"  It  was  a  large  brick  house  of  two,  or  rather  three 
stories  (for  there  were  excellent  attics),  besides  a  sunk 
story.  .  .  .  The  lower  floor  had  two  spacious  rooms, 
...  on  the  first  there  were  three  rooms,  and  in  the 
upper  one,  four.  Through  the  middle  of  the  house  was 

85  Humphrey's:   Catherine  Schuyler,  p.  77. 


218  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

a  very  wide  passage,  with  opposite  front  and  back  doors, 
which  in  summer  admitted  a  stream  of  air  peculiarly 
grateful  to  the  languid  senses.  It  was  furnished  with 
chairs  and  pictures  like  a  summer  parlor.  .  .  .  There 
was  at  the  side  a  large  portico,  with  a  few  steps  leading 
up  to  it,  and  floored  like  a  room ;  it  was  open  at  the  sides 
and  had  seats  all  round.  Above  was  ...  a  slight 
wooden  roof,  painted  like  an  awning,  or  a  covering  of 
lattice  work,  over  which  a  transplanted  wild  vine  spread 
its  luxuriant  leaves.  .  .  . 

"  At  the  back  of  the  large  house  was  a  smaller  and 
lower  one,  so  joined  to  it  as  to  make  the  form  of  a  cross. 
There  one  or  two  lower  and  smaller  rooms  below,  and 
the  same  number  above,  afforded  a  refuge  to  the  family 
during  the  rigors  of  winter,  when  the  spacious  summer 
rooms  would  have  been  intolerably  cold,  and  the  smoke 
of  prodigious  wood  fires  would  have  sullied  the  elegantly 
clean  furniture."66 

But  before  1760,  as  indicated  above,  the  English 
element  in  New  York  was  making  itself  felt,  and  a 
curious  mingling  of  gaiety  and  economy  began  to  be 
noticeable.  William  Smith,  writing  in  his  History  of  the 
Province  of  New  York,  in  1757,  points  this  out:  "  In 
the  city  of  New  York,  through  our  intercourse  with  the 
Europeans,  we  follow  the  London  fashions;  though,  by 
the  time  we  adopt  them,  they  become  disused  in  Eng 
land.  Our  affluence  during  the  late  war  introduced  a 
degree  of  luxury  in  tables,  dress,  and  furniture,  with 
I  which  we  were  before  unacquainted.  But  still  we  are 
jnot  so  gay  a  people  as  our  neighbors  in  Boston  and 
iveral  of  the  Southern  colonies.  The  Dutch  counties, 

«•  Page  83. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Social  Life  219 

in  some  measure,  follow  the  example  of  New  York,  but 
still  retain  many  modes  peculiar  to  the  Hollanders. 

"  New  York  is  one  of  the  most  social  places  on  the 
continent.  The  men  collect  themselves  into  weekly 
evening  clubs.  The  ladies  in  winter  are  frequently 
entertained  either  at  concerts  of  music  or  assemblies, 
and  make  a  very  good  appearance.  They  are  comely 
and  dress  well.  .  .  . 

"  Tinctured  with  the  Dutch  education,  they  manage 
their  families  with  becoming  parsimony,  good  provi 
dence,  and  singular  neatness.  The  practice  of  extrava 
gant  gaming,  common  to  the  fashionable  part  of  the 
fair  sex  in  some  places,  is  a  vice  with  which  my  country 
women  cannot  justly  be  charged.  There  is  nothing  they 
so  generally  neglect  as  reading,  and  indeed  all  the  arts  for 
the  improvement  of  the  mind  —  in  which,  I  confess  we 
have  set  them  the  example.  They  are  modest,  temper 
ate,  and  charitable,  naturally  sprightly,  sensible,  and 
good-humored;  and,  by  the  helps  of  a  more  elevated 
education,  would  possess  all  the  accomplishments  de 
sirable  in  the  sex." 

With  the  coming  of  the  Revolution,  and  the  conse 
quent  invasion  of  the  city  by  the  British,  New  York 
became  far  more  gay  than  ever  before;  but  even  then 
the  native  Dutch  conservativeness  so  restrained  social 
affairs  that  Philadelphia  was  more  brilliant.  When, 
however,  the  capital  of  the  national  government  was 
located  in  New  York  then  indeed  did  the  city  shine. 
Foreigners  spoke  with  astonishment  at  the  display  of 
luxury  and  down-right  extravagance.  Brissot  de  War- 
ville,  for  example,  writing  in  1788,  declared:  "  If  there 
is  a  town  on  the  American  continent  where  English 


220  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

luxury  displays  its  follies,  it  is  New  York."  And  James 
Pintard,  after  attending  a  New  Year  levee,  given  by 
Mrs.  Washington,  wrote  his  sister:  "  You  will  see  no 
such  formal  bows  at  the  Court  of  St.  James."  If  we 
may  judge  by  the  dress  of  ladies  attending  such  gather 
ings,  as  one  described  in  the  New  York  Gazette  of  May 
15,  1789,  we  may  safely  conclude  that  expense  was  not 
spared  in  the  upper  classes  of  society.  Hear  some 
descriptions : 

"  A  plain,  celestial  blue  satin  with  a  white  satin  petti 
coat.  On  the  neck  a  very  large  Italian  gauze  handker 
chief  with  white  satin  stripes.  The  head-dress  was  a  puff 
of  gauze  in  the  form  of  a  globe  on  a  foundation  of  white 
satin,  having  a  double  wing  in  large  plaits,  with  a  wreath 
of  roses  twined  about  it.  The  hair  was  dressed  with 
detached  curls,  four  each  side  of  the  neck,  and  a  floating 
chignon  behind." 

"  Another  was  a  periot  made  of  gray  Indian  taffetas 
with  dark  stripes  of  the  same  color  with  two  collars,  one 
white,  one  yellow  with  blue  silk  fringe,  having  a  reverse 
trimmed  in  the  same  manner.  Under  the  periot  was  a 
yellow  corset  of  cross  blue  stripes.  Around  the  bosom 
of  the  periot  was  a  frill  of  white  vandyked  gauze  of  the 
same  form  covered  with  black  gauze  which  hangs  in 
streamers  down  her  back.  Her  hair  behind  is  a  large 
braid  with  a  monstrous  crooked  comb." 

We  cannot  say  that  the  society  of  the  new  capital  was 
notable  for  its  intellect  or  for  the  intellectual  turn  of  its 
activities.  John  Adams'  daughter  declared  that  it  was 
"  quite  enough  dissipated,"  and  indeed  costly  dress, 
card  playing,  and  dancing  seem  to  have  received  an 
undue  amount  of  society's  attention.  The  Philadelphia 


Colonial  Woman  and  Social  Life  221 

belle,  Miss  Franks,  wrote  home:  "  Here  you  enter  a 
room  with  a  formal  set  courtesy,  and  after  the  '  How-dos' 
things  are  finished,  all  a  dead  calm  until  cards  are  intro 
duced  when  you  see  pleasure  dancing  in  the  eyes  of  all 
the  matrons,  and  they  seem  to  gain  new  life;  the  maidens 
decline  for  the  pleasure  of  making  love.  Here  it  is 
always  leap  year.  For  my  part  I  am  used  to  another 
style  of  behavior."  And,  continues  Miss  Franks: 
"  They  (the  Philadelphia  girls)  have  more  cleverness  in 
the  turn  of  the  eye  than  those  of  New  York  in  their 
whole  composition. "  But  blunt,  old  Governor  Livings 
ton,  on  the  other  hand,  wrote  his  daughter  Kitty  that 
"  the  Philadelphia  flirts  are  equally  famous  for  their 
want  of  modesty  and  want  of  patriotism  in  their  over- 
complacence  to  red-coats,  who  would  not  conquer  the 
men  of  the  country,  but  everywhere  they  have  taken  the 
women  almost  without  a  trial  —  damm  them."67 

But  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  whirl  of  life  was  a 
little  too  giddy  in  New  York,  during  the  last  years  of  the 
eighteenth  century;  and  that,  as  a  visiting  Frenchman 
declared:  "  Luxury  is  already  forming  in  this  city,  a 
very  dangerous  class  of  men,  namely,  the  bachelors,  the 
extravagance  of  the  women  makes  them  dread  mar 
riage."68  As  mentioned  above,  there  was  much  card 
playing  among  the  women,  and  on  the  then  fashionable 
John  Street  married  women  sometimes  lost  as  high  as 
$400  in  a  single  evening  of  gambling.  To  some  of  the 
older  men  who  had  suffered  the  hardships  of  war  that  the 
new  nation  might  be  born,  such  frivolity  and  extrava 
gance  seemed  almost  a  crime,  and  doubtless  these 

•7  Humphreys:   Catherine  Schuyler,  p.  214. 
•8  Humphreys:  Catherine  Schuyler,  p.  213. 


222  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

veterans  would  have  agreed  with  Governor  Livingston 
when  he  complained:  "  My  principal  Secretary  of  State, 
who  is  one  of  my  daughters,  has  gone  to  New  York  to 
shake  her  heels  at  the  balls  and  assemblies  of  a  metropo 
lis  which  might  be  better  employed,  more  studious  of 
taxes  than  of  instituting  expensive  diversions."69 

XI.  Causes  of  Display  and  Frivolity 
What  else  could  be  expected,  for  the  time  being  at 
least?  For,  the  war  over,  the  people  naturally  reacted 
from  the  dreary  period  of  hardships  and  suspense  to  a 
period  of  luxury  and  enjoyment.  Moreover,  here  was  a 
new  nation,  and  the  citizens  of  the  capital  felt  impelled 
to  uphold  the  dignity  of  the  new  commonwealth  by 
some  display  of  riches,  brilliance,  and  power.  Then, 
too,  the  first  President  of  the  young  nation  was  not 
niggardly  in  dress  or  expenditure,  and  his  contemporaries 
felt,  naturally  enough,  that  they  must  meet  him  at 
least  half  way.  Washington  apparently  was  a  believer 
in  dignified  appearances,  and  there  was  frequently  a 
wealth  of  livery  attending  his  coach.  A  story  went  the 
round,  no  doubt  in  an  exaggerated  form,  that  shows 
perhaps  too  much  punctiliousness  on  the  part  of  the 
Father  of  His  Country: 

"  The  night  before  the  famous  white  chargers  were  to 
be  used  they  were  covered  with  a  white  paste,  swathed 
in  body  clothes,  and  put  to  sleep  on  clean  straw.  In  the 
morning  this  paste  was  rubbed  in,  and  the  horses  brushed 
until  their  coats  shone.  The  hoofs  were  then  blacked 
and  polished,  the  mouths  washed,  and  their  teeth  picked. 
It  is  related  that  after  this  grooming  the  master  of  the 

89  Humphreys:  Catherine  Schuyler,  p.  215. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Social  Life  223 

stables  was  accustomed  to  flick  over  their  coats  a  clean 
muslin  handkerchief,  and  if  this  revealed  a  speck  of  dust 
the  stable  man  was  punished."70 

Perhaps  Washington  himself  rather  enjoyed  the 
stateliness  and  a  certain  aloofness  in  his  position;  but 
to  Martha  Washington,  used  to  the  freedom  of  social 
mingling  on  the  Virginia  plantation,  the  conditions  were 
undoubtedly  irksome.  "  I  lead,"  she  wrote,  "  a  very 
dull  life  and  know  nothing  that  passes  in  the  town.  I 
never  go  to  any  public  place  —  indeed  I  think  I  am  more 
like  a  state  prisoner  than  anything  else,  there  is  a  cer 
tain  bound  set  for  me  which  I  must  not  depart  from  and 
as  I  cannot  doe  as  I  like  I  am  obstinate  and  stay  home  a 
great  deal."  To  some  of  the  more  democratic  patriots 
all  this  dignity  and  formality  and  display  were  rather 
disgusting,  and  some  did  not  hesitate  to  express  them 
selves  in  rather  sarcastic  language  about  the  customs. 
For  instance,  gruff  old  Senator  Maclay  of  Pennsylvania, 
who  was  not  a  lover  of  Washington  anyway,  recorded  in 
his  Journal  his  impressions  of  one  of  the  President's 
decidedly  formal  dinners: 

"  First  was  the  soup;  fish  roasted  and  boiled;  meats, 
gammon  (smoked  ham),  fowls,  etc.  This  was  the  dinner. 
The  middle  of  the  table  was  garnished  in  the  usual 
tasty  way,  with  small  images,  artificial  flowers,  etc.  The 
dessert  was  first  apple-pies,  pudding,  etc.,  then  iced 
creams,  jellies,  etc.,  then  water-melons,  musk-melons, 
apples,  peaches,  nuts.  .  .  .  The  President  and  Mrs. 
Washington  sat  opposite  each  other  in  the  middle  of  the 
table;  the  two  secretaries,  one  at  each  end.  .  .  . 

"  It  was  the  most  solemn  dinner  ever  I  sat  at.     Not  a 

70  Humphreys:   Catherine  Schuyler,  p.  209. 


224  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

health  drank,  scarce  a  word  said  until  the  cloth  was  taken 
away.  Then  the  President,  filling  a  glass  of  wine,  with 
great  formality  drank  to  the  health  of  every  individual 
by  name  around  the  table.  Everybody  imitated  him 
and  changed  glasses  and  such  a  buzz  of  '  health,  sir,'  and 
'  health,  madam,'  and  '  thank  you,  sir,'  and  '  thank  you, 
madam '  never  had  I  heard  before.  .  .  .  The  ladies 
sat  a  good  while  and  the  bottles  passed  about;  but 
there  was  a  dead  silence  almost.  Mrs.  Washington  at 
last  withdrew  with  the  ladies. 

"  I  expected  the  men  would  now  begin  but  the  same 
stillness  remained.  He  (the  President)  now  and  then 
said  a  sentence  or  two  on  some  common  subject  and 
what  he  said  was  not  amiss.  Mr.  Jay  tried  to  make  a' 
laugh  by  mentioning  the  Duchess  of  Devonshire  leaving 
no  stone  unturned  to  carry  Fox's  election.  There  was  a 
Mr.  Smith  who  mentioned  how  Homer  described  ^Eneas 
leaving  his  wife  and  carrying  his  father  out  of  flaming 
Troy.  He  had  heard  somebody  (I  suppose)  witty  on 
the  occasion;  but  if  he  had  ever  read  it  he  would  have 
said  Virgil.  The  President  kept  a  fork  in  his  hand,  when 
the  cloth  was  taken  away,  I  thought  for  the  purpose  of 
picking  nuts.  He  ate  no  nuts,  however,  but  played  with 
the  fork,  striking  on  the  edge  of  the  table  with  it. 
We  did  not  sit  long  after  the  ladies  retired.  The  Presi 
dent  rose,  went  up-stairs  to  drink  coffee;  the  company 
followed.  I  took  my  hat  and  came  home." 

After  all,  it  was  well  that  our  first  President  and  his 
lady  were  believers  in  a  reasonable  amount  of  formality 
and  dignity.  They  established  a  form  of  social  etiquette, 
and  an  insistence  on  certain  principles  of  high-bred 
procedure  genuinely  needed  in  a  country  the  tendency 


Colonial  Woman  and  Social  Life  225 

of  which  was  toward  a  crude  display  of  raw,  hail-fellow- 
well-met  democracy.  With  an  Andrew  Jackson  type  of 
man  as  its  first  President,  our  country  would  soon  have 
been  the  laughing  stock  of  nations,  and  could  never  have 
gained  that  prestige  which  neither  wealth  nor  power  can 
bring,  but  which  is  obtained  only  through  evidences  of 
genuine  civilization  and  culture.  As  Wharton  says  in 
her  Martha  Washington:  "  An  executive  mansion  pre 
sided  over  by  a  man  and  woman  who  combined  with  the 
most  ardent  patriotism  a  dignity,  elegance,  and  modera 
tion  that  would  have  graced  the  court  of  any  Old  World 
sovereign,  saved  the  social  functions  of  the  new  nation 
from  the  crudeness  and  bald  simplicity  of  extreme 
republicanism,  as  well  as  from  the  luxury  and  excess  that 
often  mark  the  sudden  elevation  to  power  and  place  of 
those  who  have  spent  their  early  years  in  obscurity."71 
Even  after  the  removal  of  the  capital  from  New  York 
the  city  was  still  the  scene  of  unabated  gaiety.  Eliza 
beth  Southgate,  who  became  the  wife  of  Walter  Bowne, 
mayor  of  the  metropolis,  left  among  her  letters  the 
following  bits  of  helpful  description  of  the  city  pastimes 
and  fashionable  life:  "  Last  night  we  were  at  the  play  - 
1  The  Way  to  Get  Married.'  Mr.  Hodgkinson  in  Tangen 
is  inimitable.  Mrs.  Johnson,  a  sweet,  interesting  actress, 
in  Julia,  and  Jefferson,  a  great  comic  player,  were  all 
that  were  particularly  pleasing.  ...  I  have  been  to 
two  of  the  gardens :  Columbia,  near  the  Battery  —  a 
most  romantic,  beautiful  place  —  'tis  enclosed  in  a 
circular  form  and  little  rooms  and  boxes  all  round  — 
with  tables  and  chairs  —  these  full  of  company.  .  .  . 
They  have  a  fine  orchestra,  and  have  concerts  here 

"  Page  195. 


226  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

sometimes.  .  .  .  We  went  on  to  the  Battery  —  this  is 
a  large  promonade  by  the  shore  of  the  North  River  — 
very  extensive;  rows  and  clusters  of  trees  in  every  part, 
and  a  large  walk  along  the  shore,  almost  over  the  water. 
.  .  .  Here  too,  they  have  music  playing  on  the  water  in 
boats  of  a  moonlight  night.  Last  night  we  went  to  a 
garden  a  little  out  of  town  —  Mount  Vernon  Garden. 
This,  too,  is  surrounded  by  boxes  of  the  same  kind,  with 
a  walk  on  top  of  them  —  you  can  see  the  gardens  all 
below  —  but  'tis  a  summer  play-house  —  pit  and  boxes, 
stage  and  all,  but  open  on  top." 

XII.     Society  in  Philadelphia 

As  has  been  indicated,  New  York  was  not  the  only 
center  of  brilliant  social  activity  in  colonial  America. 
Philadelphia  laid  claim  to  having  even  more  charming 
society  and  vastly  more  "  exclusive  "  social  functions, 
and  it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  for  some  years  before  the 
war,  and  even  after  New  York  became  the  capital, 
Philadelphia  "  set  the  social  pace."  And,  when  the 
capital  was  removed  to  the  Quaker  City,  there  was 
indeed  a  brilliance  in  society  that  would  have  compared 
not  unfavorably  with  the  best  in  England  during  the 
same  years.  Unfortunately  few  magazine  articles  or 
books  picturing  the  life  in  the  city  at  that  time  remain; 
but  from  diaries,  journals,  and  letters  we  may  gain  many 
a  hint.  Before  and  during  the  Revolution  there  were  at 
Philadelphia  numerous  wealthy  Tory  families,  who 
loved  the  lighter  side  of  life,  and  when  the  town  was 
occupied  by  the  British  these  pro-British  citizens  offered 
a  welcome  both  extended  and  expensive.  As  Wharton 
says  in  her  Through  Colonial  Doorways: 


Colonial   Woman  and  Social  Life  227 

"  The  Quaker  City  had,  at  the  pleasure  of  her  con 
queror,  doffed  her  sober  drab  and  appeared  in  festal 
array.  .  .  .  The  best  that  the  city  afforded  was  at  the 
disposal  of  the  enemy,  who  seem  to  have  spent  their 
days  in  feasting  and  merry-making,  while  Washington 
and  his  army  endured  all  the  hardships  of  the  severe 
winter  of  1777-8  upon  the  bleak  hill-sides  of  Valley 
Forge.  Dancing  assemblies,  theatrical  entertainments, 
and  various  gaieties  marked  the  advent  of  the  British 
in  Philadelphia,  all  of  which  formed  a  fitting  prelude  to 
the  full-blown  glories  of  the  Meschianza,  which  burst 
upon  the  admiring  inhabitants  on  that  last-century 
May  day."72 

This,  however,  was  not  a  sudden  outburst  of  reckless 
joy  on  the  part  of  the  Philadelphians ;  for  long  before  the 
coming  of  Howe  the  wealthier  families  had  given  social 
functions  that  delighted  and  astonished  foreign  visitors. 
We  are  sure  that  as  early  as  1738  dancing  was  taught  by 
Theobald  Hackett,  who  offered  to  instruct  in  "  all  sorts 
of  fashionable  English  and  French  dances,  after  the 
newest  and  politest  manner  practiced  in  London,  Dublin, 
and  Paris,  and  to  give  to  young  ladies,  gentlemen,  and 
children,  the  most  graceful  carriage  in  dancing  and  gen 
teel  behavior  in  company  that  can  possibly  be  given  by 
any  dancing  master,  whatever." 

Before  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  balls,  or 
"  dancing  assemblies  "  had  become  popular  in  Phila 
delphia,  and,  being  sanctioned  by  no  less  authority  than 
the  Governor  himself,  were  frequented  by  the  best 
families  of  the  city.  In  a  letter  by  an  influential  clergy 
man,  Richard  Peters,  we  find  this  reference  to  such 

"  Page  24. 


228  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

fashionable  meetings:  "  By  the  Governor's  encourage 
ment  there  has  been  a  very  handsome  assembly  once  a 
fortnight  at  Andrew  Hamilton's  house  and  stores,  which 
are  tenanted  by  Mr.  Inglis  (and)  make  a  set  of  rooms  for 
such  a  purpose  and  consist  of  eight  ladies  and  as  many 
gentlemen,  one  half  appearing  every  Assembly  Night." 
There  were  a  good  many  strict  rules  regulating  the 
conduct  of  these  balls,  among  them  being  one  that  every 
meeting  should  begin  promptly  at  six  and  close  at  twelve. 
The  method  of  obtaining  admission  is  indicated  in  the 
following  notice  from  the  Pennsylvania  Journal  of  1771: 
"  The  Assembly  will  be  opened  this  evening,  and  as  the 
receiving  money  at  the  door  has  been  found  extremely 
inconvenient,  the  managers  think  it  necessary  to  give  the 
public  notice  that  no  person  will  be  admitted  without  a 
ticket  from  the  directors  which  (through  the  application 
of  a  subscriber)  may  be  had  of  either  of  the  managers." 

As  card-playing  was  one  of  the  leading  pastimes  of  the 
day,  rooms  were  set  aside  at  these  dancing  assemblies 
for  those  who  preferred  "  brag  "  and  other  fashionable 
games  with  cards.  But  far  the  greater  number  preferred 
to  dance,  and  to  those  who  did,  the  various  figures  and 
steps  were  seemingly  a  rather  serious  matter,  not  to  be 
looked  upon  as  a  source  of  mere  amusement.  The 
Marquis  de  Chastellux  has  left  us  a  description  of  one  of 
these  assemblies  attended  by  him  during  the  Revolu 
tion,  and,  if  his  words  are  true,  such  affairs  called  for 
rather  concentrated  attention: 

"  A  manager  or  master  of  ceremonies  presides  at  these 
methodical  amusements;  he  presents  to  the  gentlemen 
and  ladies  dancers  billets  folded  up  containing  each  a 
number;  thus,  fate  decided  the  male  or  female  partner 


Colonial  Woman  and  Social  Life  229 

for  the  whole  evening.  All  the  dances  are  previously 
arranged  and  the  dancers  are  called  in  their  turns.  These 
dances,  like  the  toasts  we  drink  at  table,  have  some  rela 
tion  to  politics;  one  is  called  the  Success  of  the  Cam 
paign,  another  the  Defeat  of  Burgoyne,  and  a  third 
Clinton's  Retreat.  .  .  .  Colonel  Mitchell  was  formerly 
the  manager,  but  when  I  saw  him  he  had  descended  from 
the  magistracy  and  danced  like  a  private  citizen.  He  is 
said  to  have  exercised  his  office  with  great  severity,  and 
it  is  told  of  him  that  a  young  lady  who  was  figuring  in  a 
country  dance,  having  forgotten  her  turn  by  conversing 
with  a  friend,  was  thus  addressed  by  him,  '  Give  over, 
miss,  mind  what  you  are  about.  Do  you  think  you  come 
here  for  your  pleasure?  ' 

XIII.  The  Beauty  of  Philadelphia  Women 
Any  investigator  of  early  American  social  life  may 
depend  on  Abigail  Adams  for  spicy,  keen  observations 
and  interesting  information.  Her  letters  picture  happily 
the  activities  of  Philadelphia  society  during  the  last 
decade  of  the  eighteenth  century.  For  instance,  she 
writes  in  1790:  "  On  Friday  last  I  went  to  the  drawing 
room,  being  the  first  of  my  appearance  in  public.  The 
room  became  full  before  I  left  it,  and  the  circle  very 
brilliant.  How  could  it  be  otherwise  when  the  dazzling 
Mrs.  Bingham  and  her  beautiful  sisters  were  there; 
the  Misses  Allen,  and  the  Misses  Chew;  in  short  a  con 
stellation  of  beauties?  If  I  were  to  accept  one-half  the 
invitations  I  receive  I  should  spend  a  very  dissipated 
winter.  Even  Saturday  evening  is  not  excepted,  and  I 
refused  an  invitation  of  that  kind  for  this  evening.  I 
have  been  to  one  assembly.  The  dancing  was  very  good; 


230  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

the  company  the  best;  the  President  and  Madam,  the 
Vice-President  and  Madam,  Ministers  of  State  and  their 
Madames,  etc." 

The  mention  of  Mrs.  Bingham  leads  us  to  some  notice 
of  her  and  her  environment,  as  an  aid  to  our  perception 
of  the  real  culture  and  brilliance  found  in  the  higher 
social  circles  of  colonial  Philadelphia  and  New  York. 
One  of  the  most  beautiful  women  of  the  day,  Mrs. 
Bingham,  added  to  a  good  education,  the  advantage  of 
much  travel  abroad,  and  a  lengthy  visit  at  the  Court  of 
Louis  XVI.  Her  beauty  and  elegance  were  the  talk  of 
Paris,  The  Hague,  and  London,  and  Mrs.  Adams'  com 
ment  from  London  voiced  the  general  foreign  sentiment 
about  her:  "  She  is  coming  quite  into  fashion  here,  and 
is  very  much  admired.  The  hair-dresser  who  dresses  us 
on  court  days  inquired  .  .  .  whether  ...  we  knew  the 
lady  so  much  talked  of  here  from  America  —  Mrs. 
Bingham.  He  had  heard  of  her  .  .  .  and  at  last  speak 
ing  of  Miss  Hamilton  he  said  with  a  twirl  of  his  comb, 
'  Well,  it  does  not  signify,  but  the  American  ladies  do 
beat  the  English  all  to  nothing/  ' 

An  English  traveller,  Wansey,  visited  her  in  her 
Philadelphia  home,  and  wrote:  "  I  dined  this  day  with 
Mrs.  Bingham.  ...  I  found  a  magnificent  house  and 
gardens  in  the  best  English  style,  with  elegant  and  even 
superb  furniture.  The  chairs  of  the  drawing  room  were 
from  Seddons  in  London,  of  the  newest  taste  —  the 
backs  in  the  form  of  a  lyre  with  festoons  of  crimson  and 
yellow  silk;  the  curtains  of  the  room  a  festoon  of  the 
same;  the  carpet  one  of  Moore's  most  expensive  pat 
terns.  The  room  was  papered  in  the  French  taste,  after 
the  style  of  the  Vatican  at  Rome." 


Colonial  Woman  and  Social  Life  231 

Such  a  woman  was,  of  course,  destined  to  be  a  social 
leader,  and  while  her  popularity  was  at  its  height,  she 
introduced  many  a  foreign  custom  or  fad  to  the  some 
what  unsophisticated  society  of  America.  One  of  these 
was  that  of  having  a  servant  announce  repeatedly  the 
name  of  the  visitor  as  he  progressed  from  the  outside 
door  to  the  drawing  room,  and  this  in  itself  caused  con 
siderable  ridiculous  comment  and  sometimes  embarrass 
ing  blunders  on  the  part  of  Americans  ignorant  of 
foreign  etiquette.  One  man,  hearing  his  name  thus 
called  a  number  of  times  while  he  was  taking  off  his 
overcoat,  bawled  out  repeatedly,  "  Coming,  coming," 
until  at  length,  his  patience  gone,  he  shouted,  "  Coming, 
just  as  soon  as  I  can  get  my  great-coat  off !  " 

The  beauty  and  brilliance  of  Philadelphia  were  not 
without  honor  at  home,  and  this  recognition  of  local 
talent  caused  some  rather  spiteful  comparisons  to  be 
made  with  the  New  York  belles.  Rebecca  Franks,  to 
whom  we  have  referred  several  times,  declared:  "  Few 
New  York  ladies  know  how  to  entertain  company  in 
their  own  houses,  unless  they  introduce  the  card  table. 
...  I  don't  know  a  woman  or  girl  that  can  chat  above 
half  an  hour  and  that  on  the  form  of  a  cap,  the  color  of  a 
ribbon,  or  the  set  of  a  hoop,  stay,  or  gapun.  I  will  do 
our  ladies,  that  is  in  Philadelphia,  the  justice  to  say 
they  have  more  cleverness  in  the  turn  of  an  eye,  than  the 
New  York  girls  have  in  their  whole  composition.  With 
what  ease  have  I  seen  a  Chew,  a  Penn,  Oswald,  Allen, 
and  a  thousand  others  entertain  a  large  circle  of  both 
sexes  and  the  conversation,  without  aid  of  cards,  not 
flagg  or  seem  in  the  least  strained  or  stupid." 


232  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

XIV.     Social  Functions 

While  the  beauty  of  the  Philadelphia  women  was 
notable  —  the  Duke  Rochefoucauld-Liancourt  declared 
that  it  was  impossible  to  meet  with  what  is  called  a 
plain  woman  —  the  lavish  use  of  wealth  was  no  less 
noticeable.  The  equipage,  the  drawing  room,  the  very 
kitchens  of  some  homes  were  so  extravagantly  furnished 
that  foreign  visitors  marvelled  at  the  display.  Indeed, 
some  spiteful  people  of  the  day  declared  that  the  Bing- 
ham  home  was  so  gaudy  and  so  rilled  with  evidences  of 
wealth  that  it  lacked  a  great  deal  of  being  comfortable. 
The  trappings  of  the  horses,  the  furnishings  of  the 
family  coaches,  the  livery  of  the  footmen,  drivers,  and 
attendants  apparently  were  equal  to  those  possessed  by 
the  most  aristocratic  in  London  and  Paris. 

Probably  one  of  the  most  brilliant  social  occasions 
was  the  annual  celebration  of  Washington's  birthday, 
and  while  the  first  President  was  in  Philadelphia,  he  was, 
of  course,  always  present  at  the  ball,  and  made  no  effort 
to  conceal  his  pleasure  and  gratitude  for  this  mark  of 
esteem.  The  entire  day  was  given  over  to  pomp  and 
ceremony.  According  to  a  description  by  Miss  Cham 
bers,  "  The  morning  of  the  '  twenty-second  '  was  ushered 
in  by  the  discharge  of  heavy  artillery.  The  whole  city 
was  in  commotion,  making  arrangements  to  demon 
strate  their  attachment  to  our  beloved  President.  The 
Masonic,  Cincinnati,  and  military  orders  united  in 
doing  him  honor."  In  describing  the  hall,  she  says: 
"  The  seats  were  arranged  like  those  of  an  amphitheatre, 
and  cords  were  stretched  on  each  side  of  the  room,  about 
three  feet  from  the  floor,  to  preserve  sufficient  space  for 
the  dances.  We  were  not  long  seated  when  General 


Colonial  Woman  and  Social  Life  233 

Washington  entered  and  bowed  to  the  ladies  as  he  passed 
round  the  room.  .  .  .  The  dancing  soon  after  com 
menced."73 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  Mrs.  Washington  en 
joyed  her  stay  in  Philadelphia  far  more  than  the  period 
spent  in  New  York.  In  Philadelphia  there  was  a  very 
noticeable  atmosphere  of  hospitality  and  easy  friendli 
ness;  here  too  were  many  Southern  visitors  and  Southern 
customs;  for  in  those  days  of  difficult  travel  Phila 
delphia  seemed  much  nearer  to  Virginia  than  did  New 
York.  Even  with  such  a  congenial  environment  Martha 
Washington,  with  her  innate  domesticity,  was  con 
stantly  thinking  of  life  at  Mount  Vernon,  and  in  the 
midst  of  festivities  and  assemblies  of  genuine  diplomatic 
import,  would  stop  to  write  to  her  niece  at  home  such  a 
thoroughly  housewifely  message  as:  "  I  do  not  know 
what  keys  you  have  —  it  is  highly  necessary  that  the 
beds  and  bed  clothes  of  all  kinds  should  be  aired,  if  you 
have  the  keys  I  beg  you  will  make  Caroline  put  all  the 
things  of  every  kind  out  to  air  and  brush  and  clean  all 
the  places  and  rooms  that  they  were  in." 

But  Mrs.  Washington  was  not  alone  in  Philadelphia 
in  this  domestic  tendency;  many  of  those  women  who 
dazzled  both  Americans  and  foreigners  with  their  beauty 
and  social  graces  were  most  careful  housekeepers,  and 
even  expert  at  weaving  and  sewing.  Sarah  Bache, 
for  example,  might  please  at  a  ball,  but  the  next  morning 
might  find  her  industriously  working  at  the  spinning 
wheel.  We  find  her  writing  her  father,  Ben  Franklin, 
in  1790:  "  If  I  was  to  mention  to  you  the  prices  of  the 
common  necessaries  of  life,  it  would  astonish  you.  I 

71  Wharton:    Martha  Washington,  p.  230. 


234  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

should  tell  you  that  I  had  seven  tablecloths  of  my  own 
spinning."  Again,  she  shrewdly  requests  her  father  in 
Paris  to  send  her  various  articles  of  dress  which  are 
entirely  too  expensive  in  America,  but  the  old  gentle 
man's  answer  seems  still  more  shrewd,  especially  when 
we  remember  what  a  delightful  time  he  was  just  then 
having  with  several  sprightly  French  dames:  "  I  was 
charmed  with  the  account  you  gave  me  of  your  industry, 
the  tablecloths  of  your  own  spinning,  and  so  on;  but 
the  latter  part  of  the  paragraph  that  you  had  sent  for 
linen  from  France  .  .  .  and  you  sending  for  ...  lace 
and  feathers,  disgusted  me  as  much  as  if  you  had  put 
salt  into  my  strawberries.  The  spinning,  I  see,  is  laid 
aside,  and  you  are  to  be  dressed  for  the  ball !  You  seem 
not  to  know,  my  dear  daughter,  that  of  all  the  dear 
things  in  this  world  idleness  is  the  dearest,  except 
mischief." 

Her  declaration  in  her  letter  that  "  there  was  never  so 
much  pleasure  and  dressing  going  on  "  is  corroborated 
by  the  statement  of  an  officer  writing  to  General  Wayne : 
"It  is  all  gaiety,  and  from  what  I  can  observe,  every 
lady  endeavors  to  outdo  the  other  in  splendor  and  show. 
.  .  .  The  manner  of  entertaining  in  this  place  has  like 
wise  undergone  its  change.  You  cannot  conceive  any 
thing  more  elegant  than  the  present  taste.  You  can 
hardly  dine  at  a  table  but  they  present  you  with  three 
courses,  and  each  of  them  in  the  most  elegant  manner." 

XV.     Theatrical  Performances 

The  dinners  and  balls  seem  to  have  been  expensive 
enough,  but  another  demand  for  expenditure,  especially 
in  items  of  dress,  arose  from  the  constantly  increasing 


Colonial  Woman  and  Social  Life  235 

popularity  of  the  theatre.  In  Philadelphia  the  first 
regular  theatre  season  began  in  1754,  and  from  this  time 
forth  the  stage  seems  to  have  filled  an  important  part 
in  the  activities  of  society.  We  find  that  Washington 
attended  such  performances  at  the  early  South  Street 
Theatre,  and  was  especially  pleased  with  a  comedy 
called  The  Young  Quaker;  or  the  Fair  Philadelphian  by 
O'Keefe,  a  sketch  that  was  followed  by  a  pantomimic 
ballet,  a  musical  piece  called  The  Children  in  the  Wood, 
a  recitation  of  Goldsmith's  Epilogue  in  the  character  of 
Harlequin,  and  a  " grand  finale"  by  some  adventuresome 
actor  who  made  a  leap  through  a  barrel  of  fire!  Truly 
vaudeville  began  early  in  America. 

Mrs.  Adams  from  staid  old  Massachusetts,  where 
theatrical  performances  were  not  received  cordially  for 
many  a  year,  wrote  from  Philadelphia  in  1791:  "  The 
managers  of  the  theatre  have  been  very  polite  to  me 
and  my  family.  I  have  been  to  one  play,  and  here 
again  we  have  been  treated  with  much  politeness. 
The  actors  came  and  informed  us  that  a  box  was  pre 
pared  for  us.  ...  The  house  is  equal  to  most  of  the 
theatres  we  meet  with  out  of  France.  .  .  .  The  actors 
did  their  best;  the  *  School  for  Scandal '  was  the  play. 
I  missed  the  divine  Farran,  but  upon  the  whole  it  was 
very  well  performed." 

The  first  theatrical  performance  given  in  New  York 
is  said  to  have  been  acted  in  a  barn  by  English  officers 
and  shocked  beyond  all  measure  the  honest  Dutch 
citizens  whose  lives  hitherto  had  gone  along  so  peace 
fully  without  such  ungodly  spectacles.  As  Humphreys 
writes  in  her  Catherine  Schuyler,  "  Great  was  the  scandal 
in  the  church  and  among  the  burghers.  Their  indict- 


236  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

ment  was  searching.  .  .  .  Moreover,  they  painted  their 
faces  which  was  against  God  and  nature.  .  .  .  They 
had  degraded  manhood  by  assuming  female  habits."74 

But  in  most  sections  of  the  Middle  Colonies,  as  well 
as  in  Virginia  and  South  Carolina,  the  colonists  took 
very  readily  to  the  theatre,  and  in  both  Pennsylvania 
and  Virginia,  where  the  curtain  generally  arose  at  six 
o'clock,  such  crowds  attended  that  the  fashionable  folk 
commonly  sent  their  negroes  ahead  to  hold  the  seats 
against  all  comers.  Williamsburg,  Virginia,  had  a  good 
play  house  as  early  as  1716;  Charleston  just  a  little 
later,  and  Annapolis  had  regular  performances  in  1752. 
Baltimore  first  opened  the  theatre  in  1782,  and  did  the 
thing  "  in  the  fine  style,"  by  presenting  Shakespeare's 
King  Richard.  Society  doubtless  tingled  with  excite 
ment  when  that  first  theatrical  notice  appeared  in  the 
Baltimore  papers: 

"  THE  NEW  THEATRE  IN  BALTIMORE 
Will  Open,  This  Evening,  being  the  15th  of  January  .  .  . 
With  an  HISTORICAL  TRAGEDY,  CALLED 
KING  RICHARD  III 

AN  OCCASIONAL  PROLOGUE  by  MR.  WALL 
to  which  will  be  added  a  FARCE, 
MISS  IN  HER  TEENS 

"Boxes:  One  Dollar:  Pit  Five  Shillings:  Galleries  9d. 
Doors  to  be  open  at  Half-past  Four,  and  will  begin  at 
Six  o'clock. 

"  No  persons  can  be  admitted  without  Tickets,  which 
may  be  had  at  the  coffee  House  in  Baltimore,  and  at 
Lindlay's  Coffee  House  on  Fells-Point. 

»«  Page  45. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Social  Life  237 

"  No  Persons  will  on  any  pretence  be  admitted  behind 
the  Scenes." 

This  last  sentence  was  indeed  a  necessary  one;  for 
during  the  earlier  days  of  the  American  theatre  many  in 
the  audience  frequently  invaded  the  stage,  either  to 
congratulate  the  actors  or  to  express  in  fistic  combat 
their  disgust  over  the  play  or  the  acting.  It  was  not 
uncommon,  too,  for  eggs  to  be  thrown  from  the  gallery, 
and  both  this  and  the  rushing  upon  the  stage  was  ex 
pressly  forbidden  at  length  by  the  authorities  of  several 
towns.  Every  class  in  colonial  days  seems  to  have 
found  its  own  peculiar  way  of  enjoying  itself,  whether 
by  fascinating  through  beauty  and  brilliance  the  sup 
posedly  sophisticated  French  dukes,  or  by  pelting  barn 
storming  actors  with  eggs  and  other  missiles. 

The  limits  of  one  volume  force  us  to  omit  many  an 
interesting  social  feature  of  colonial  days,  especially  of 
the  cities.  How  much  might  be  said  of  the  tavern  life 
of  New  York  City  and  the  vicinity,  how  much  of  those 
famous  resorts,  Vauxhall  and  Ranelagh,  where  many  a 
device  to  arouse  the  wonder  of  the  fashionable  guests  was 
invented  and  constructed!  Then,  too,  much  might  be 
related  about  the  popular  "  fish  dinners  "  of  New  York 
and  Annapolis,  the  horse  races  in  Virginia  and  Mary 
land,  the  militia  parades  and  pageants  at  Charleston. 
But  sufficient  has  been  offered  to  prove  that  the  prev 
alent  idea  of  a  dreary  atmosphere  that  lasted  through 
out  the  entire  colonial  period  is  false ;  certainly  during  the 
eighteenth  century  at  least,  the  average  American  colo 
nist  obtained  as  much  pleasure  out  of  life  as  the  rushing, 
ever-busy  American  of  our  own  day. 


238  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

XVI.  Strange  Customs  in  Louisiana 
It  should  be  noted  that  most  of  these  pleasures  were 
in  the  main  healthful  and  normal,  and,  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  colonists  at  least,  made  a  most  commenda 
ble  contrast  to  the  recreations  indulged  in  by  the  French 
colonists  of  Louisiana.  There  can  be  but  little  doubt 
that  during  the  last  years  of  the  eighteenth  century 
moral  conditions  in  this  far  southern  colony  might  have 
been  far  better.  Although  Louis  XIV,  the  Grand 
Monarch,  had  been  dead  practically  a  century,  he  had 
left  as  a  heritage  a  passion  for  pleasure  and  merry 
making  that  was  causing  the  French  nobility  to  revel 
in  profligacy  and  vice.  It  must  be  admitted  that  many 
of  the  French  colonists  in  America  were  apt  pupils  of 
their  European  relatives,  while  the  Creole  population, 
born  of  at  least  an  unmoral  union,  was,  to  say  the  least, 
in  no  wise  a  hindrance  to  pleasures  of  a  rather  lax  char 
acter.  Then,  too,  there  was  the  negro,  or  more  accu 
rately  the  mulatto,  who  if  he  or,  again  more  accurately, 
she  had  any  moral  scruples,  had  little  opportunity  as  a 
slave  or  servant  to  exercise  them. 

The  settlers  of  Louisiana  had  an  active  trade  with  the 
West  Indies,  and  a  percentage  of  the  population  was 
composed  of  West  Indians,  a  people  then  notorious  for 
their  lack  of  moral  restraint.  The  traders  travelling 
between  Louisiana  and  these  islands  were  frequently 
unprincipled  ruffians,  and  their  companions  on  shore 
were  commonly  sharpers,  desperadoes,  pirates,  and 
criminals  steeped  in  vice.  Tiring  of  the  raw  life  of  the 
sea  or  sometimes  fleeing  from  justice  in  northern  cities, 
such  men  looked  to  New  Orleans  for  that  peculiar  type 
of  free  and  easy  civilization  which  most  pleased  their 


Colonial   Woman  and  Social  Life  239 

nature.  Hence,  although  some  better  class  families  of 
culture  and  refinement  resided  in  the  city,  there  was  but 
little  in  common  socially  at  least  between  it  and  such 
centers  as  Philadelphia,  New  York,  and  Boston.  As  a 
sea-port  looking  to  those  eighteenth  century  fens  of 
wickedness,  the  West  Indies;  as  a  river  port  toward 
which  traders,  trappers,  and  planters  of  the  Mississippi 
Valley  looked  as  a  resort  for  relieving  themselves  of 
accumulated  thirst  and  passion;  as  the  home  of  mixed 
races,  some  of  which  were  but  a  few  decades  removed 
from  savagery;  this  city  could  not  avoid  its  reputation 
for  lax  principles,  and  free-and-easy  vice. 

Berquin-Duvallon,  writing  in  1803,  gave  what  he 
doubtless  considered  an  accurate  picture  of  social  condi 
tions  during  that  year,  and,  although  this  is  a  little  later 
than  the  period  covered  in  our  study,  still  it  is  hardly 
likely  that  conditions  were  much  better  twenty  years 
earlier;  if  anything,  they  were  probably  much  worse. 
Of  one  famous  class  of  Louisiana  women  he  has  this  to 
say:  "  The  Creoles  of  Louisiana  are  blond  rather  than 
brunette.  The  women  of  this  country  who  may  be 
included  among  the  number  of  those  whom  nature  has 
especially  favored,  have  a  skin  which  without  being  of 
extreme  whiteness,  is  still  beautiful  enough  to  constitute 
one  of  their  charms;  and  features  which  although  not 
very  regular,  form  an  agreeable  whole;  a  very  pretty 
throat;  a  stature  that  indicates  strength  and  health; 
and  (a  peculiar  and  distinguishing  feature)  lively  eyes 
full  of  expression,  as  well  as  a  magnificent  head  of  hair."75 

Such  women,  as  well  as  the  negro  and  mulatto  girls, 
were  an  ever  present  temptation  to  men  whose  passion 

™  Robertson:  Louisiana  under  Spain,  France,  and  U.  S.,  Vol.  I,  p.  70. 


240  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

had  never  known  restraint.  Thus  Berquin-Duvallon 
declares  that  concubinage  was  far  more  common  than 
marriage:  "  The  rarity  of  marriage  must  necessarily 
be  attributed  to  the  causes  we  have  already  assigned, 
to  that  state  of  celibacy,  to  that  monkish  life,  the  taste 
for  which  is  extending  here  more  and  more  among  the 
men.  In  witness  of  what  I  advance  on  this  matter,  one 
single  observation  will  suffice,  as  follows:  For  the  two 
and  one-half  years  that  I  have  been  in  this  colony  not 
thirty  marriages  at  all  notable  have  occurred  in  New 
Orleans  and  for  ten  leagues  about  it.  And  in  this 
district  there  are  at  least  six  hundred  white  girls  of 
virtuous  estate,  of  marriageable  age,  between  fourteen 
and  twenty-five  or  thirty  years." 

This  early  observer  receives  abundant  corroboration 
from  other  travellers  of  the  day.  Paul  Alliott,  drawing 
a  contrast  between  New  Orleans  and  St.  Louis,  another 
city  with  a  considerable  number  of  French  inhabitants, 
says:  "  The  inhabitants  of  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  like 
those  old  time  simple  and  united  patriarchs,  do  not  live 
at  all  in  debauchery  as  do  a  part  of  those  of  New  Orleans. 
Marriage  is  honored  there,  and  the  children  resulting 
from  it  share  the  inheritance  of  their  parents  without 
any  quarrelling."76  But,  says  Berquin-Duvallon,  among 
a  large  percentage  of  the  colonists  about  New  Orleans, 
"  their  taste  for  women  extends  more  particularly  to 
those  of  color,  whom  they  prefer  to  the  white  women, 
because  such  women  demand  fewer  of  those  annoying 
attentions  which  contradict  their  taste  for  independence. 
A  great  number,  accordingly,  prefer  to  live  in  concubin 
age  rather  than  to  marry.  They  find  in  that  the  double 

"Robertson,  Vol.  I,  p.  85. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Social  Life  241 

advantage  of  being  served  with  the  most  scrupulous 
exactness,  and  in  case  of  discontent  or  unfaithfulness,  of 
changing  their  housekeeper  (this  is  the  honorable  name 
given  to  that  sort  of  woman)."  Of  course,  such  a  scheme 
of  life  was  not  especially  conducive  to  happiness  among 
white  women,  and,  although  as  Alliott  declares,  the 
white  men  "  have  generally  much  more  regard  for 
(negro  girls)  in  their  domestic  economy  than  they  do  for 
their  legitimate  wives  .  .  .  the  (white)  women  show  the 
greatest  contempt  and  aversion  for  that  sort  of  women." 

When  moral  conditions  could  shock  an  eighteenth 
century  Frenchman  they  must  have  been  exceptionally 
bad;  but  the  customs  of  the  New  Orleans  men  were 
entirely  too  unprincipled  for  Berquin-Duvallon  and 
various  other  French  investigators.  "  Not  far  from  the 
taverns  are  obscene  bawdy  houses  and  dirty  smoking 
houses  where  the  father  on  one  side,  and  the  son  on  the 
other  go,  openly  and  without  embarrassment  as  well  as 
without  shame,  ...  to  revel  and  dance  indiscriminately 
and  for  whole  nights  with  a  lot  of  men  and  women  of 
saffron  color  or  quite  black,  either  free  or  slave.  Will 
any  one  dare  to  deny  this  fact?  I  will  only  designate, 
in  support  of  my  assertion  (and  to  say  no  more),  the 
famous  house  of  Coquet,  located  near  the  center  of  the 
city,  where  all  that  scum  is  to  be  seen  publicly,  and  that 
for  several  years."77 

Naturally,  as  a  matter  of  mere  defense,  the  women  of 
pure  white  blood  drew  the  color  line  very  strictly,  and 
would  not  knowingly  mingle  socially  to  the  very  slightest 
degree  with  a  person  of  mixed  negro  or  Indian  blood. 
Such  severe  distinctions  led  to  embarrassing  and  even 

"Robertson,  Vol.  I,  p.  216. 


Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

cruel  incidents  at  social  gatherings;  and  on  many  occa 
sions,  if  cool-headed  social  leaders  had  not  quickly  ejected 
guests  of  tainted  lineage,  there  undoubtedly  would  have 
been  bloodshed.  Berquin-Duvallon  describes  just  such 
a  scene :  "  The  ladies'  ball  is  a  sanctuary  where  no  woman 
dare  approach  if  she  has  even  a  suspicion  of  mixed  blood. 
The  purest  conduct,  the  most  eminent  virtues  could  not 
lessen  this  strain  in  the  eyes  of  the  implacable  ladies. 
One  of  the  latter,  married  and  known  to  have  been 
implicated  in  various  intrigues  with  men  of  the  locality, 
one  day  entered  one  of  those  fine  balls.  *  There  is  a 
woman  of  mixed  blood  here/  she  cried  haughtily.  This 
rumor  ran  about  the  ballroom.  In  fact,  two  young 
quadroon  ladies  were  seen  there,  who  were  esteemed  for 
the  excellent  education  which  they  had  received,  and 
much  more  for  their  honorable  conduct.  They  were 
warned  and  obliged  to  disappear  in  haste  before  a 
shameless  woman,  and  their  society  would  have  been  a 
real  pollution  for  her." 

Perhaps,  after  all,  little  blame  for  such  outbursts  can 
be  placed  upon  the  white  women  of  the  day.  Berquin- 
Duvallon  recognized  and  admired  their  excellent  quality 
and  seems  to  have  wondered  why  so  many  men  could 
prefer  girls  of  color  to  these  clean,  healthy,  and  honora 
ble  ladies.  Of  them  he  says:  "  The  Louisiana  women, 
and  notably  those  born  and  resident  on  the  plantations, 
have  various  estimable  qualities.  Respectful  as  girls, 
affectionate  as  wives,  tender  as  mothers,  and  careful  as 
mistresses,  possessing  thoroughly  the  details  of  house 
hold  economy,  honest,  reserved,  proper  —  in  the  van 
almost  —  they  are,  in  general,  most  excellent  women." 
But  of  those  of  mixed  blood  or  lower  lineage,  he  remarks: 


Colonial   Woman  and  Social  Life  243 

"  A  tone  of  extravagance  and  show  in  excess  of  one's 
means  is  seen  there  in  the  dress  of  the  women,  in  the 
elegance  of  their  carriages,  and  in  their  fine  furniture." 

Indeed,  this  display  in  dress  and  equipage  astounded 
the  French.  The  sight  of  it  in  a  city  where  Indians, 
negroes,  and  half-breeds  mingled  freely  with  whites  on 
street  and  in  dive,  where  sanitary  conditions  were  beyond 
description,  and  where  ignorance  and  slovenliness  were 
too  apparent  to  be  overlooked,  seems  to  have  rather 
nettled  Berquin-Duvallon,  and  he  sometimes  grew  rather 
heated  in  his  descriptions  of  an  unwarranted  luxury  and 
extravagance  equal  to  that  of  the  capitals  of  Europe. 
But  now,  "  the  women  of  the  city  dress  tastefully,  and 
their  change  of  appearance  in  this  respect  in  a  very 
short  space  of  time  is  really  surprising.  Not  three  years 
ago,  with  lengthened  skirts,  the  upper  part  of  their 
clothing  being  of  one  color,  and  the  lower  of  another, 
and  all  the  rest  of  their  dress  in  proportion;  they  were 
brave  with  many  ribbons  and  few  jewels.  Thus  rigged 
out  they  went  everywhere,  on  their  round  of  visits,  to 
the  ball,  and  to  the  theatre.  To-day,  such  a  costume 
seems  to  them,  and  rightfully  so,  a  masquerade.  The 
richest  of  embroidered  muslins,  cut  in  the  latest  styles, 
and  set  off  as  transparencies  over  soft  and  brilliant 
taffetas,  with  magnificent  lace  trimmings,  and  with 
embroidery  and  gold-embroidered  spangles,  are  to-day 
fitted  to  and  beautify  well  dressed  women  and  girls; 
and  this  is  accompanied  by  rich  earrings,  necklaces, 
bracelets,  rings,  precious  jewels,  in  fine  with  all  that  can 
relate  to  dress  —  to  that  important  occupation  of  the 
fair  sex." 

But  beneath  all  this  gaudy  show  of  dress  and  wealth 


244  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

there  was  a  shameful  ignorance  that  seems  to  have  dis 
gusted  foreign  visitors.  There  was  so  little  other 
pleasure  in  life  for  the  women  of  this  colony;  their 
education  was  so  limited  that  they  could  not  possibly 
have  known  the  variety  of  intellectual  pastimes  that 
made  life  so  interesting  for  Eliza  Pinckney,  Mrs.  Adams, 
and  Catherine  Schuyler.  With  surprise  Berquin-Duval- 
lon  noted  that  "  there  is  no  other  public  institution  fit 
for  the  education  of  the  youth  of  this  country  than  a 
simple  school  maintained  by  the  government.  It  is 
composed  of  about  fifty  children,  nearly  all  from  poor 
families.  Reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic  are  taught 
there  in  two  languages,  French  and  Spanish.  There  is 
also  the  house  of  the  French  nuns,  who  have  some  young 
girls  as  boarders,  and  who  have  a  class  for  day  students. 
There  is  also  a  boarding  school  for  young  Creole  girls, 
which  was  established  about  fifteen  months  ago.  .  .  . 
The  Creole  women  lacking  in  general  the  talents  that 
adorn  education  have  no  taste  for  music,  drawing,  or 
embroidery,  but  in  revenge  they  have  an  extreme  passion 
for  dancing  and  would  pass  all  their  days  and  nights 
at  it." 

There  was  indeed  some  attendance  at  theatres  as  the 
source  of  amusement;  but  of  the  sources  of  cultural 
pleasure  there  were  certainly  very  few.  To  our  French 
friend  it  was  genuinely  disgusting,  and  he  relieved  his 
feelings  in  the  following  summary  of  fault-finding: 
"  Few  good  musicians  are  to  be  seen  here.  There  is 
only  one  single  portrait  painter,  whose  talent  is  suited  to 
the  walk  of  life  where  he  employs  it.  Finally,  in  a  city 
inhabited  by  ten  thousand  souls,  as  is  New  Orleans,  I 
record  it  as  a  fact  that  not  ten  truly  learned  men  can 


Colonial  Woman  and  Social  Life  245 

be  found.  .  .  .  There  is  found  here  neither  ship-yard, 
colonial  post,  college,  nor  public  nor  private  library. 
Neither  is  there  a  book  store,  and,  for  good  reasons,  for 
a  bookseller  would  die  of  hunger  in  the  midst  of  his 
books." 

With  little  of  an  intellectual  nature  to  divert  them, 
with  the  temptations  incident  to  slavery  and  mixed 
races  on  every  hand,  with  a  heritage  of  rather  lax  ideas 
concerning  sexual  morality,  the  men  of  the  day  too  fre 
quently  found  their  chief  pastimes  in  feeding  the  appe 
tites  of  the  flesh,  and  too  often  the  women  forgot  and 
forgave.  To  Berquin-Duvallon  it  all  seems  very  strange 
and  very  crude.  "  I  cannot  accustom  myself  to  those 
great  mobs,  or  to  the  old  custom  of  the  men  (on  these 
gala  occasions  or  better,  orgies)  of  getting  more  than  on 
edge  with  wine,  so  that  they  get  fuddled  even  before  the 
ladies,  and  afterward  act  like  drunken  men  in  the  pres 
ence  of  those  beautiful  ladies,  who,  far  from  being 
offended  at  it,  appear  on  the  contrary  to  be  amused  by 
it."  And  out  of  it  all,  out  of  these  conditions  forming 
so  vivid  a  contrast  to  the  average  life  of  Massachusetts 
and  Pennsylvania,  grew  this  final  dark  picture  —  one 
that  could  not  have  been  tolerated  in  the  Anglo-Saxon 
colonies  of  the  North :  "  The  most  remarkable,  as  well 
as  the  most  pathetic  result  of  that  gangrenous  irregu 
larity  in  this  city  is  the  exposing  of  a  number  of  white 
babies  (sad  fruits  of  a  clandestine  excess)  who  are  sacri 
ficed  from  birth  by  their  guilty  mothers  to  a  false  honor 
after  they  have  sacrificed  their  true  honor  to  their  un 
bridled  inclination  for  a  luxury  that  destroys  them." 

Thus,  we  have  had  glimpses  of  social  life,  with  its 
pleasures,  throughout  the  colonies.  Perhaps,  it  was  a 


246  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

trifle  too  cautious  in  Massachusetts,  a  little  fearful  lest 
the  mere  fact  that  a  thing  was  pleasant  might  make  it 
sinful;  perhaps  in  early  New  York  it  was  a  little  too 
physical,  though  generally  innocent,  smacking  a  little 
too  much  of  rich,  heavy  foods  and  drink;  perhaps  among 
the  Virginians  it  echoed  too  often  with  the  bay  of  the 
fox  hound  and  the  click  of  racing  hoofs.  But  certainly 
in  the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  whether  in 
Massachusetts,  the  Middle  Colonies,  or  Virginia  and 
South  Carolina,  social  activities  often  showed  a  culture, 
refinement,  and  general  eclat  which  no  young  nation  need 
be  ashamed  of,  and  which,  in  fact,  were  far  above  what 
might  justly  have  been  expected  in  a  country  so  little 
touched  by  the  hand  of  civilized  man.  In  the  main, 
those  were  wholesome,  sane  days  in  the  English  colonies, 
and  life  offered  almost  as  pleasant  a  journey  to  most 
Americans  as  it  does  to-day. 


CHAPTER  VI 
COLONIAL  WOMAN  AND  MARRIAGE 

/.     New  England  Weddings 

Of  course,  practically  every  American  novel  dealing 
with  the  colonial  period  —  or  any  other  period,  for  that 
matter — closes  with  a  marriage  and  ahint  that  they  lived 
happily  ever  afterwards.  Did  they  indeed?  To  satisfy 
our  curiosity  about  this  point  let  us  examine  those  early 
customs  that  dealt  with  courtship,  marriage,  punishment 
for  offenses  against  the  marriage  law,  and  the  general 
status  of  woman  after  marriage. 

For  many  years  a  wedding  among  the  Puritans  was  a 
very  quiet  affair  totally  unlike  the  ceremony  in  the 
South,  where  feasting,  dancing,  and  merry-making  were 
almost  always  accompaniments.  For  information  about 
the  occasion  in  Massachusetts  we  may,  of  course,  turn 
to  the  inevitable  Judge  Sewall.  As  a  guest  he  saw 
innumerable  weddings;  as  a  magistrate  he  performed 
many;  as  one  of  the  two  principal  participants  he  took 
part  in  several.  He  has  left  us  a  record  of  his  own 
frequent  courtships,  of  how  he  was  rejected  or  accepted, 
and  of  his  life  after  the  acceptances;  and  from  it  all  one 
may  make  a  rather  fair  analysis  not  only  of  the  conven 
tional  methods  and  domestic  manners  of  New  England 
but  also  of  the  character  and  spirit  of  the  other  sex  during 
such  trying  occasions.  The  evidence  shows  that  while  a 
young  woman  was  generally  given  her  choice  of  accept- 


248  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

ing  or  declining,  the  suitor,  before  offering  his  atten 
tions,  first  asked  permission  to  do  so  from  her  parents  or 
guardians.  Thus  a  marriage  seldom  occurred  in  which 
the  parents  or  other  interested  parties  were  left  in 
ignorance  as  to  the  design,  or  ignored  in  the  deciding  of 
the  choice. 

Sewall  offers  us  sufficient  proof  on  this  point:  "  Deer.  7, 
1719.  Mr.  Cooper  asks  my  Consent  for  Judith's  Com 
pany;  which  I  freely  grant  him."  "  Feria  Secunda, 
Octobr.  13,  1729.  Judge  Davenport  comes  to  me 
between  10  and  11  a-clock  in  the  morning  and  speaks  to 
me  on  behalf  of  Mr.  Addington  Davenport,  his  eldest 
Son,  that  he  might  have  Liberty  to  Wait  upon  Jane 
Hirst  [his  kinswoman]  now  at  my  House  in  way  of 
Courtship.7'1  And  it  should  be  noted  that  the  parents  of 
the  young  man  took  a  keen  interest  in  the  matter,  and 
showed  genuine  appreciation  that  their  son  was  permitted 
to  court  with  the  full  sanction  of  the  lady's  parents. 
Thus  Sewall  records:  "  Deer.  11.  I  and  my  Wife  visit 
Mr.  Stoddard.  Madam  Stoddard  Thank'd  me  for  the 
Liberty  I  granted  her  Son  [Mr.  Cooper]  to  wait  on  my 
daughter  Judith.  I  returned  the  Compliment  and 
Kindness."2 

It  might  well  be  conjectured  that  to  toy  with  a  girl's 
affections  was  a  serious  matter.  If  the  young  man 
attempted  without  consent  of  the  young  woman's 
parents  or  guardian  to  make  love  to  her,  the  audacious 
youth  could  be  hailed  into  court,  where  it  might  indeed 
go  hard  with  him.  Thus  the  records  of  Suffolk  County 
Court  for  1676  show  that  "  John  Lorin  stood  '  convict 

i  Diary:  Vol.  Ill,  p.  237.  p.  396. 
»  Diary:  Vol.  Ill,  p.  237. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Marriage  249 

on  his  own  confession  of  making  love  to  Mary  Willis 
without  her  parents  consent  and  after  being  forwarned 
by  them,  £5."3 

But  the  lover  might  have  his  revenge;  for  if  a  stub 
born  father  proved  unreasonable  and  refused  to  give  a 
cause  for  not  allowing  a  courtship,  the  young  man  could 
bring  the  older  one  into  court,  and  there  compel  him  to 
allow  love  to  take  its  own  way,  or  state  excellent  reasons 
for  objecting.  Thus,  in  1646  "  Richard  Taylor  com 
plained  to  the  general  Court  of  Plymouth  that  he  was 
prevented  from  marrying  Ruth  Wheildon  by  her  father 
Gabriel;  but  when  before  the  court  Gabriel  yielded 
and  promised  no  longer  to  oppose  the  marriage."4 

And  then,  if  the  young  gallant  (may  we  dare  call  a 
Puritan  beau  that?)  after  having  captured  the  girl's 
heart,  failed  to  abide  by  his  engagement,  woe  betide 
him;  for  into  the  court  he  and  her  father  might  go,  and 
the  young  gentleman  might  come  forth  lacking  several 
pounds  in  money,  if  not  in  flesh.  The  Massachusetts 
colony  records  show,  for  instance,  that  the  court  "  orders 
that  Joyce  Bradwicke  shall  give  unto  Alex.  Becke  the 
some  of  xxs,  for  promiseing  him  marriage  wthout  her 
f  rends  consent,  &  no  we  refuseing  to  pforme  the  same."5 
Again,  the  Plymouth  colony  records,  as  quoted  by 
Howard,  state  that  "  Richard  Siluester,  in  the  behalfe 
of  his  dautheter,  and  Dinah  Siluester  in  the  behalfe  of 
herselfe  '  to  recover  twenty  pounds  and  costs  from  John 
Palmer,  for  acteing  fraudulently  against  the  said  Dinah, 
in  not  pforming  his  engagement  to  her  in  point  of  mar 
riage.'  "  "  In  1735,  a  woman  was  awarded  two  hundred 

1  Howard:   History  of  Matrimonial  Institutions,  p.  166. 

•  Howard:   p.  163. 

*  Howard:    p.  200. 


250  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

pounds  and  costs  at  the  expense  of  her  betrothed,  who, 
after  jilting  her,  had  married  another,  although  he  had 
first  beguiled  her  into  deeding  him  a  piece  of  land 
1  worth  £100.'  " 

Serious  as  was  the  matter  of  the  mere  courtship,  the 
fact  that  the  dowry  or  marriage  portion  had  to  be  con 
sidered  made  the  act  of  marriage  even  more  serious. 
The  devout  elders,  who  taught  devotion  to  heavenly 
things  and  scorn  of  the  things  of  this  world,  neverthe 
less  haggled  and  wrangled  long  and  stubbornly  over  a 
few  pounds  more  or  less.  Judge  Sewall  seems  to  have 
prided  himself  on  the  friendly  spirit  and  expediteness 
with  which  he  settled  such  a  matter.  "  Oct.  13,  1729. 
Judge  Davenport  comes  to  me  between  10  and  11  a-clock 
in  the  morning  and  speaks  to  me  on  behalf  of  Mr. 
Addington  Davenport,  his  eldest  Son,  that  he  might 
have  Liberty  to  Wait  upon  Jane  Hirst  now  at  my  House 
in  way  of  Courtship.  He  told  me  he  would  deal  by  him 
as  his  eldest  Son,  and  more  than  so.  Inten'd  to  build  a 
House  where  his  uncle  Addington  dwelt,  for  him;  and 
that  he  should  have  his  Pue  in  the  Old  Meeting-house. 
.  .  .  He  said  Madam  Addington  Would  wait  upon 


me. 


"6 


Not  only  was  provision  thus  made  for  the  future 
financial  condition  of  the  wedded,  but  also  the  possi 
bility  of  the  death  of  either  party  after  the  day  of  mar 
riage  was  kept  in  mind,  and  a  sum  to  be  paid  in  such  an 
emergency  agreed  upon.  For  example,  Sewall  records 
after  the  death  of  his  daughter  Mary:  "  Tuesday,  Febr. 
19,  1711-2.  .  .  .  Dine  with  Mr.  Gerrish,  son  Gerrish 
[Mary's  husband],  Mrs.  Anne.  Discourse  with  the 

•  Diary:   Vol.  HI,  p.  386. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Marriage  251 

Father  about  my  Daughter  Mary's  Portion.  I  stood 
for  making  £550  doe;  because  now  twas  in  six  parts,  the 
Land  was  not  worth  so  much.  He  urg'd  for  £600,  at 
last  would  split  the  £50.  Finally,  Febr.  20,  I  agreed  to 
charge  the  House-Rent,  and  Differences  of  Money,  and 
make  it  up  £600." 7 

II.     Judge  Sewall's  Courtships 

The  Judge's  own  accounts  of  his  many  courtships  and 
three  marriages  give  us  rather  surprising  glimpses  of  the 
jspirit  and  independence  of  colonial  women,  who,  as 
pictured  in  the  average  book  on  American  history,  are 
generally  considered  weak,  meek,  and  yielding^  His 
wooing  of  Madam  Winthrop,  for  instance,  was  long  and 
arduous  and  ended  in  failure.  She  would  not  agree  to 
his  proffered  marriage  settlement;  she  demanded  that 
he  keep  a  coach,  which  he  could  not  afford;  she  even 
declared  that  his  wearing  of  a  wig  was  a  prerequisite  if  he 
obtained  her  for  a  wife.  Mrs.  Winthrop  had  been 
through  marriage  before,  and  she  evidently  knew  how  to 
test  the  man  before  accepting.  Not  at  all  a  clinging  vine 
type  of  woman,  she  well  knew  how  to  take  care  of  her 
self,  and  her  manner,  therefore,  of  accepting  his  atten 
tions  is  indeed  significant.  Under  date  of  October  23 
we  find  in  his  Diary  this  brief  note:  "  My  dear  wife  is 
inter'd  ";  and  on  February  26,  he  writes:  "  This  morn 
ing  wondering  in  my  mind  whether  to  live  a  single  or  a 
married  life."8 

Then  come  his  friends,  interested  in  his  physical  and 
spiritual  welfare,  and  realizing  that  it  is  not  well  for  man 

»  Diary:  Vol.  II,  p.  336. 
•  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  144,  165. 


252  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

to  live  alone,  they  begin  to  urge  upon  him  the  benefits 
of  wedlock.  "  March  14,  1717.  Deacon  Marion  comes 
to  me,  visits  with  me  a  great  while  in  the  evening;  after 
a  great  deal  of  discourse  about  his  Courtship  —  He  told 
[me]  the  Olivers  said  they  wish'd  I  would  Court  their 
Aunt.  I  said  little,  but  said  twas  not  five  Moneths 
since  I  buried  my  dear  Wife.  Had  said  before  'twas 
hard  to  know  whether  best  to  marry  again  or  no;  whom 
to  marry.  .  .  ."9  "  July  7,  1718.  ...  At  night,  when 
all  were  gone  to  bed,  Cousin  Moodey  went  with  me  into 
the  new  Hall,  read  the  History  of  Rebekah's  Courtship, 
and  pray'd  with  me  respecting  my  Widowed  Condi 
tion."10 

Thus  urged  to  it,  the  lonely  Judge  pays  court  to  Mrs. 
Denison  but  she  will  not  have  him.  Naturally  he  has 
little  to  say  about  the  rejection;  but  evidently,  with 
undiscouraged  spirit,  he  soon  turns  elsewhere  and  with 
success;  for  under  date  of  October  29,  1719,  we  come 
across  this  entry:  "  Thanksgiving  Day:  between  6  and 
7  Brother  Moody  &  I  went  to  Mrs.  Tilley's,  and  about  7 
or  8  were  married  by  Mr.  J.  Sewall,  in  the  best  room 
below  stairs.  Mr.  Prince  prayed  the  second  time. 
Mr.  Adams,  the  minister  at  Newington  was  there,  Mr. 
Oliver  and  Mr.  Timothy  Clark.  .  .  .  Sung  the  12,  13, 
14,  15  and  16  verses  of  the  90th  Psalm.  Cousin  S. 
Sewall  set  Low-Dutch  tune  in  a  very  good  key.  .  .  . 
Distributed  cake.  .  .  ,"u 

But  his  happiness  was  short-lived;  for  in  May  of  the 
next  year  this  wife  died,  and,  without  wasting  time  in 
sentimental  repining,  he  was  soon  on  the  search  for  a 

•  Diary:  Vol.  Ill,  p.  176. 
"  Diary:   Vol.  Ill,  p.  180. 
11  Diary:  Vol.  Ill,  p.  232. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Marriage  253 

new  companion.  In  August  he  was  calling  on  Madam 
Winthrop  and  approached  the  subject  with  considerable 
subtlety:  ".  .  .  Spake  to  her,  saying,  my  loving  wife 
died  so  soon  and  suddenly,  'twas  hardly  convenient  for 
me  to  think  of  marrying  again;  however  I  came  to  this 
resolution,  that  I  would  not  make  my  court  to  any 
person  without  first  consulting  with  her/'12  Two 
months  later  he  said:  "  At  last  I  pray'd  that  Catherine 
[Mrs.  Winthrop]  might  be  the  person  assign'd  for  me. 
.  .  .  She  .  .  .  took  it  up  in  the  way  of  denial,  saying 
she  could  not  do  it  before  she  was  asked."12 

But,  as  stated  above,  Madam  Winthrop  was  rather 
capricious  and,  in  popular  parlance,  she  "  kept  him 
guessing."  Thus,  we  read: 

"  Madam  seem'd  to  harp  upon  the  same  string.  .  .  . 
Must  take  care  of  her  children;  could  not  leave  that 
house  and  neighborhood  where  she  had  dwelt  so  long. 
...  I  gave  her  a  piece  of  Mr.  Belcher's  cake  and  ginger 
bread  wrapped  up  in  a  clean  sheet  of  paper.  .  .  ,"13 

"  In  the  evening  I  visited  Madam  Winthrop,  who 
treated  me  with  a  great  deal  of  courtesy;  wine,  marma 
lade.  I  gave  her  a  News-Letter  about  the  Thanks 
giving.  .  .  ,"13 

Two  days  later:  "  Madam  Winthrop's  countenance 
was  much  changed  from  what  'twas  on  Monday.  Look'd 
dark  and  lowering.  .  .  .  Had  some  converse,  but  very 
cold  and  indifferent  to  what  'twas  before.  .  .  .  She  sent 
Juno  home  with  me,  with  a  good  lantern.  .  .  ,14 

A  week  passed,  and  "  in  the  evening  I  visited  Madam 
Winthrop,  who  treated  me  courteously,  but  not  in  clean 

«  Diary:  Vol.  Ill,  p.  262. 
"Diary:  Vol.  Ill,  p.  265. 
"  Diary:  Vol.  Ill,  p.  266. 


254  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

linen    as    sometimes.  Juno    came    home    with 


me. 


"15 


Again,  several  days  later,  he  seeks  the  charming 
widow,  and  finds  her  "  out."  He  goes  in  search  of  her. 
Finding  her,  he  remains  a  few  minutes,  then  suggests 
going  home.  " .  .  .  She  found  occasion  to  speak 
pretty  earnestly  about  my  keeping  a  coach:  .  .  .  She 
spake  something  of  my  needing  a  wig.  .  .  ,"16 

Two  days  later  when  calling:  ".  .  .  I  rose  up  at  11 
o'clock  to  come  away,  saying  I  would  put  on  my  coat, 
she  offer'd  not  to  help  me.  I  pray'd  her  that  Juno  might 
light  me  home,  she  open'd  the  shutter,  and  said  'twas 
pretty  light  abroad:  Juno  was  weary  and  gone  to  bed. 
So  I  came  home  by  star-light  as  well  as  I  could.  .  .  ."1G 

The  Judge  was  persistent,  however,  and  called  again. 
"  I  asked  Madam  what  fashioned  neck-lace  I  should 
present  her  with;  she  said  none  at  all."17  Evidently 
such  coolness  chilled  the  ardor  of  his  devotion,  and  he 
records  but  one  more  visit  of  a  courting  nature.  "  Give 
her  the  remnant  of  my  almonds;  she  did  not  eat  of 
them  as  before;  but  laid  them  away.  .  .  .  The  fire 
was  come  to  one  short  brand  besides  the  block  ...  at 
last  it  fell  to  pieces,  and  no  recruit  was  made."  The 
judge  took  the  hint.  "  Took  leave  of  her.  .  .  .  Treated 
me  courteously.  .  .  .  Told  her  she  had  enter'd  the 
4th  year  of  widowhood.  .  .  .  Her  dress  was  not  so  clean 
as  sometime  it  had  been.  Jehovah  jireh."18 

A  little  later  he  turned  his  attention  toward  a  Mrs. 
Ruggles;  but  by  this  time  the  Judge  was  known  as  a 

»  Diary:  Vol.  Ill,  p.  269. 
"  Diary:  Vol.  III.  p.  271. 
"Vol.  Ill,  p.  274. 
"  Diary:  Vol.  Ill,  p.  275. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Marriage  255 

persistent  suitor,  and  one  hard  to  discourage,  and  it 
would  seem  that  Mrs.  Ruggles  gave  him  no  opportunity 
to  push  the  matter.  At  length,  however,  he  found  his 
heart's  desire  in  a  Mrs.  Gibbs  and,  judging  from  his 
Diary,  was  exceedingly  pleased  with  his  choice. 

///.     Liberty  to  Choose 

It  seems  clear  that  the  virgin,  as  well  as  the  widow,  was 
given  considerable  liberty  in  making  up  her  own  mind 
as  to  the  choice  of  a  life  mate,  and  any  general  conclu 
sions  that  colonial  women  were  practically  forced  into 
uncongenial  marriages  by  the  command  of  parents  has 
no  documentary  evidence  whatever.  For  instance, 
Eliza  Pinckney  wrote  in  reply  to  her  father's  inquiry 
about  her  marriageable  possibilities: 

"  As  you  propose  Mr.  L.  to  me  I  am  sorry  I  can't  have 
Sentiments  favourable  enough  to  him  to  take  time  to 
think  on  the  Subject,  as  your  Indulgence  to  me  will 
ever  add  weight  to  the  duty  that  obliges  me  to  consult 
that  best  pleases  you,  for  so  much  Generosity  on  your 
part  claims  all  my  Obedience.  But  as  I  know  'tis  my 
Happiness  you  consult,  I  must  beg  the  favour  of  you  to 
pay  my  compliments  to  the  old  Gentleman  for  his 
Generosity  and  favorable  Sentiments  of  me,  and  let  him 
know  my  thoughts  on  the  affair  in  such  civil  terms  as  you 
know  much  better  than  I  can  dictate;  and  beg  leave  to 
say  to  you  that  the  riches  of  Chili  and  Peru  put  together, 
if  he  had  them,  could  not  purchase  a  sufficient  Esteem  for 
him  to  make  him  my  husband. 

"  As  to  the  other  Gentleman  you  mention,  Mr.  W., 
you  know,  sir,  I  have  so  slight  a  knowledge  of  him  I  can 
form  no  judgment,  and  a  case  of  such  consequence 


256  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

requires  the  nicest  distinction  of  humours  and  Senti 
ments. 

"  But  give  me  leave  to  assure  you,  my  dear  Sir,  that 
a  single  life  is  my  only  Choice;  —  and  if  it  were  not  as  I 
am  yet  but  eighteen  hope  you  will  put  aside  the  thoughts 
of  my  marrying  yet  these  two  or  three  years  at  least. 

"  You  are  so  good  as  to  say  you  have  too  great  an 
opinion  of  my  prudence  to  think  I  would  entertain  an 
indiscreet  passion  for  any  one,  and  I  hope  Heaven  will 
direct  me  that  I  may  never  disappoint  you.  .  .  ,"19 

Even  timid,  shrinking  Betty  Sewall,  who  as  a  child 
was  so  troubled  over  her  spiritual  state,  was  not  forced 
to  accept  an  uncongenial  mate;  although,  of  course,  the 
old  judge  thought  she  must  not  remain  in  the  unnatural 
condition  of  a  spinster.  When  she  was  seventeen  her 
first  suitor  appeared,  with  her  father's  permission,  of 
course;  for  the  Judge  had  investigated  the  young  man's 
financial  standing,  and  had  found  him  worth  at  least 
£600.  To  prepare  the  girl  for  the  ordeal,  her  father 
took  her  into  his  study  and  read  her  the  story  of  the 
mating  of  Adam  and  Eve,  "  as  a  soothing  and  alluring 
preparation  for  the  thought  of  matrimony."  But  poor 
Betty,  frightened  out  of  her  wits,  fled  as  the  hour  for  the 
lover's  appearance  neared,  and  hid  in  a  coach  in  the 
stable.  The  Judge  duly  records  the  incident:  "Jany 
Fourth-day,  at  night  Capt.  Tuthill  comes  to  speak  with 
Betty,  who  hid  herself  all  alone  in  the  coach  for  several 
hours  till  he  was  gone,  so  that  we  sought  at  several 
houses,  then  at  last  came  in  of  her  self,  and  look'd  very 
wild."20 

"Ravenel:    Eliza  Pinckney,  p.  55. 
"  Diary:  Vol.  Ill,  p.  491. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Marriage  257 

Necessarily,  this  suitor  was  dismissed,  and  a  Mr. 
Hirst  next  appeared,  but  Betty  could  not  consent  to  his 
courtship,  and  the  father  mournfully  notes  the  belief 
that  this  second  young  man  had  "  taken  his  final  leave." 
A  few  days  later,  however,  the  Judge  writes  her  as  fol 
lows: 

"  Mr.  Hirst  waits  upon  you  once  more  to  see  if  you 
can  bid  him  welcome.  It  ought  to  be  seriously  con 
sidered,  that  your  drawing  back  from  him  after  all  that 
has  passed  between  you,  will  be  to  your  Prejudice; 
and  will  tend  to  discourage  persons  of  worth  from  making 
their  Court  to  you.  And  you  had  need  to  consider 
whether  you  are  able  to  bear  his  final  Leaving  of  you, 
howsoever  it  may  seem  gratefull  to  you  at  present. 
When  persons  come  toward  us,  we  are  apt  to  look  upon 
their  Undesirable  Circumstances  mostly;  and  therefore 
to  shun  them.  But  when  persons  retire  from  us  for 
good  and  all,  we  are  in  danger  of  looking  only  on  that 
which  is  desirable  in  them  to  our  woefull  Disquiet. 
...  I  do  not  see  but  that  the  Match  is  well  liked  by 
judicious  persons,  and  such  as  are  your  Cordial  Friends, 
and  mine  also. 

"  Yet  notwithstanding,  if  you  find  in  yourself  an 
imovable  incurable  Aversion  from  him,  and  cannot  love, 
and  honour,  and  obey  him,  I  shall  say  no  more,  nor  give 
you  any  further  trouble  in  this  matter.  It  had  better 
be  off  than  on.  So  praying  God  to  pardon  us,  and  pity 
our  Undeserving,  and  to  direct  and  strengthen  and  settle 
you  in  making  a  right  Judgment,  and  giving  a  right 
Answer,  I  take  leave,  who,  am,  dear  child,  your  loving 
father.  .  .  ."21 

«  Sewall's  Letter-Book,  Col.  I,  p.  213. 


258  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

IV.     The  Banns  and  the  Ceremony 

After  the  formal  engagement,  when  the  dowry  and 
contract  had  been  agreed  upon  and  signed,  the  publishing 
of  the  banns  occurred.  Probably  this  custom  was 
general  throughout  the  colonies;  indeed,  the  Church  of 
England  required  it  in  Virginia  and  South  Carolina; 
the  Catholics  demanded  it  in  Maryland;  the  Dutch  in 
New  York  and  the  Quakers  in  Pennsylvania  sanctioned 
it.  Sewall  mentions  the  ceremony  several  times,  and 
evidently  looked  uponv<it  as  a  proper,  if  not  a  required, 
procedure. 

And  who  performed  the  marriage  ceremony  in  those 
old  days?  To-day  most  Americans  look  upon  it  as  an 
office  of  the  clergyman,  although  a  few  turn  to  a  civil 
officer  in  this  hour  of  need;  but  in  the  early  years  of  the 
Plymouth  and  Massachusetts  Bay  Colonies  it  is  highly 
probable  that  only  a  magistrate  was  allowed  to  marry 
the  contracting  parties.  Those  first  American  Puritans 
had  a  fear  of  church  ceremony,  and  for  some  years 
conducted  both  weddings  and  funerals  without  the 
formal  services  of  a  preacher.  By  Judge  Sewall's  time, 
either  clergyman  or  magistrate  might  perform  the  office; 
but  all  symptoms  of  formality  or  worldly  pomp  were 
frowned  upon,  and  the  union  was  made  generally  with 
the  utmost  simplicity  and  quietness.  We  may  turn 
again  to  the  Judge's  Diary  for  brief  pictures  of  the 
equally  brief  ceremony:  ^ 

"  Tuesday,  1688.  Mr.  Nath.  Newgate  Marries  Mr. 
Lynds  Daughter  before  Mr.  Ratcliff,  with  Church  of 
England  Ceremonies."22 

"Thorsday,   Oct.  4th,    1688.     About   5   P.   M.   Mr. 

»  Diary:  Vol.  I,  p.  216. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Marriage  259 

Willard  (the  pastor)  married  Mr.  Samuel  Danforth  and 
Mrs.  Hannah  Allen."23 

"  Feb.  24,  1717-8.  In  the  evening  I  married  Joseph 
Marsh.  ...  I  gave  them  a  glass  of  Canary." 

"  Apr.  4,  1718.  .  .  .  In  the  evening  I  married  Chas- 
ling  Warrick  and  Esther  Bates.  .  .  ,"24 

It  seems  that  the  Judge  himself  inclined  toward  the 
view  that  a  wedding  was  essentially  a  civil,  and  not  an 
ecclesiastical  affair,  and  he  even  went  so  far  as  to  intro 
duce  a  rule  having  certain  magistrates  chosen  for  the 
duty,  but,  unluckily,  the  preachers  won  the  contest  and 
almost  took  this  particular  power  away  from  the  civil 
officers.  The  Judge  refers  thus  to  the  matter:  "  Nov. 
4,  1692.  Law  passes  for  Justices  and  Ministers  Marry 
ing  Persons.  By  order  of  the  Committee,  I  had  drawn 
up  a  Bill  for  Justices  and  such  others  as  the  Assembly 
should  appoint  to  marry;  but  came  new-drawn  and  thus 
alter'd  from  the  Deputies.  It  seems  they  count  the 
respect  of  it  too  much  to  be  left  any  longer  with  the 
Magistrate.  And  Salaries  are  not  spoken  of;  as  if  one 
sort  of  Men  might  live  on  the  Aer.  .  .  ,"25  Apparently 
up  to  this  date  the  magistrates  had  possessed  rather  a 
monopoly  on  the  marriage  market,  and  Sewall  was 
justly  worried  over  this  new  turn  in  affairs.  Betty, 
however,  who  had  finally  accepted  Mr.  Hirst,  was 
married  by  a  clergyman,  as  the  following  entry  testifies: 
"Oct.  17,  1700.  ...  In  the  following  Evening  Mr. 
Grove  Hirst  and  Elizabeth  Sewall  are  married  by  Mr. 
Cotton  Mather."26 

»  Diary:  Vol.  I,  p.  228. 
"  Vol.  III.  p.  172. 
»  Diary:  Vol.  I,  p.  368. 
»  Diary:  Vol.  II,  p.  24. 


260  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

The  nearest  that  the  Puritans  of  the  day  seem  to  have 
approached  earthly  hilarity  on  such  occasions  was  in  the 
serving  of  simple  refreshments.  Strange  to  say,  the 
pious  Judge  almost  smacks  his  lips  as  he  records  the 
delicacies  served  at  one  of  the  weddings:  "  Many  of 
the  Council  went  and  wish'd  Col.  Fitch  joy  of  his 
daughter  Martha's  marriage  with  Mr.  James  Allen. 
Had  good  Bride-Cake,  good  Wine,  Burgundy  and 
Canary,  good  Beer,  Oranges,  Pears."27  Again,  in 
recording  the  marriage  of  his  daughter  Judith,  he  notes 
that  "  we  had  our  Cake  and  sack-posset."  Still  again: 
"May  8th,  1712.  At  night,  Dr.  Increase  Mather 
married  Mr.  Sam  Gerrish,  and  Mrs.  Sarah  Coney;  Dr. 
Cotton  Mather  pray'd  last.  .  .  .  Had  Gloves,  Sack- 
Posset,  and  Cake.  .  .  ,"28 

Of  course,  as  time  went  on,  the  good  people  of  Massa 
chusetts  became  more  worldly  and  three  quarters  of  a 
century  after  Sewall  noted  the  above,  some  weddings 
had  become  so  noisy  that  the  godly  of  the  old  days  might 
well  have  considered  such  affairs  as  riotous.  For 
example,  Judge  Pynchon  records  on  January  2,  1781: 
"  Tuesday,  ...  A  smart  firing  is  heard  today.  (Mr. 
Brooks  is  married  to  Miss  Hathorne,  a  daughter  of  Mr. 
Estey),  and  was  as  loud,  and  the  rejoicing  near  as  great 
as  on  the  marriage  of  Robt.  Peas,  celebrated  last  year; 
the  fiddling,  dancing,  etc.,  about  equal  in  each."29 

V.     Matrimonial  Restrictions 

Necessarily,  the  laws  dealing  with  wedlock  were 
exceedingly  strict  in  all  the  colonies;  for  there  were  many 

«  Diary:  Vol.  Ill,  p.  364. 
"  Diary:  Vol.  II,  p.  347. 
"  Diary:  p.  82. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Marriage  261 

reckless  immigrants  to  America,  many  of  whom  had  left 
a  bad  reputation  in  the  old  country  and  were  not  build 
ing  a  better  one  in  the  new.  It  was  no  uncommon  thing 
for  men  and  women  who  were  married  in  England  to 
pose  as  unmarried  in  the  colonies,  and  the  charge  of 
bigamy  frequently  appears  in  the  court  records  of  the 
period.  Sometimes  the  magistrates  "  punished "  the 
man  by  sending  him  back  to  his  wife  in  England,  but 
there  seems  to  be  no  record  of  a  similar  form  of  punish 
ment  for  a  woman  who  had  forgotten  her  distant  spouse. 
Strange  to  say,  there  are  instances  of  the  fining,  month 
by  month,  of  unmarried  couples  living  together  as  man 
and  wife  —  a  device  still  imitated  by  some  of  our  city 
courts  in  dealing  with  inmates  of  disorderly  houses. 
All  in  all,  the  saintly  of  those  old  days  had  good  cause  for 
believing  that  the  devil  was  continuously  seeking  en 
trance  into  their  domain. 

Some  of  the  laws  seem  unduly  severe.  Marriage  with 
cousins  or  other  near  relatives  was  frowned  upon,  and 
even  the  union  of  persons  who  were  not  considered 
respectable  according  to  the  community  standard  was 
unlawful.  Sewall  notes  his  sentiments  concerning  the 
marriage  of  close  relatives: 

"  Dec.  25,  1691.  .  .  .  The  marriage  of  Hana  Owen 
with  her  Husband's  Brother  is  declar'd  null  by  the  Court 
of  Assistants.  She  commanded  not  to  entertain  him; 
enjoin'd  to  make  a  Confession  at  Braintrey  before  the 
Congregation  on  Lecture  day,  or  Sabbath,  pay  Fees  of 
Court  and  prison,  &  to  be  dismiss'd.  .  .  ."30 

"  May  7,  1696.  Col.  Shrimpton  marries  his  Son  to 
his  Wive's  Sisters  daughter,  Elisabeth  Richardson. 

"  Diary:   Vol.  I,  p.  354. 


262  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

All  of  the  Council  in  Town  were  invited  to  the  Wedding, 
and  many  others.  Only  I  was  not  spoken  to.  As  I  was 
glad  not  to  be  there  because  the  lawf ullness  of  the  inter 
marrying  of  Cousin-Germans  is  doubted.  .  .  ."31 

VI.     Spinsters 

It  is  a  source  of  astonishment  to  a  modern  reader  to 
find  at  what  a  youthful  age  girls  of  colonial  days  became 
brides.  Large  numbers  of  women  were  wedded  at  six 
teen,  and  if  a  girl  remained  home  until^her  eighteenth 
birthday  the  Puritan  parents  began  to  lose  hope.  There 
were  comparatively  few  unmarried  people,  and  it  would 
seem  that  bachelors  and  spinsters  were  viewed  with  some 
suspicion.  The  fatel)Tah  oTdTmai^was  indeed  a  sad  one ; 
for  she  must  spend  her  days  in  the  home  of  her  parents 
or  of  her  brothers,  or  eke  out  her  board  by  keeping  a 
dame's  school,  and  if  she  did  not  present  a  mournful 
countenance  the  greater  part  of  the  populace  was 
rather  astonished.  Note,  for  instance,  the  tone  of 
surprise  in  this  comment  on  an  eighteenth  century 
spinster  of  Boston: 

"  It  is  true,  an  old  (or  superannuated)  maid  in  Boston 
is  thought  such  a  curse,  as  nothing  can  exceed  it  (and 
looked  on  as  a  dismal  spectacle)',  yet  she,  by  her  good 
nature,  gravity,  and  strict  virtue,  convinces  all  (so  much 
as  the  fleering  Beaus)  that  it  is  not  her  necessity,  but  her 
choice,  that  keeps  her  a  Virgin.  She  is  now  about  thirty 
years  (the  age  which  they  call  a  Thornback),  yet  she 
never  disguises  herself,  and  talks  as  little  as  she  thinks  of 
Love.  She  never  reads  any  Plays  or  Romances,  goes  to 
no  Balls,  or  Dancing-match,  as  they  do  who  go  (to  such 

»  Diary:  Vol.  I,  p.  424. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Marriage  263 

Fairs)  in  order  to  meet  with  Chapmen.  Her  looks,  her 
speech,  her  whole  behaviour,  are  so  very  chaste,  that  but 
one  at  Governor's  Island,  where  we  went  to  be  merry  at 
roasting  a  hog,  going  to  kiss  her,  I  thought  she  would 
have  blushed  to  death. 

"  Our  Damsel  knowing  this,  her  conversation  is 
generally  amongst  the  Women  ...  so  that  I  found  it  no 
easy  matter  to  enjoy  her  company,  for  some  of  her  time 
(save  what  was  taken  up  in  Needle-work  and  learning 
French,  etc.)  was  spent  in  Religious  Worship.  She 
knew  Time  was  a  dressing-room  for  Eternity,  and  there 
fore  reserves  most  of  her  hours  for  better  uses  than  those 
of  the  Comb,  the  Toilet,  and  the  Glass."32 

VII.     Separation  and  Divorce 

It  may  be  a  matter  of  surprise  to  the  ultra-modern 
that  there  were  not,  in  those  days,  more  old  maids  or 
women  who  hesitated  long  before  entering  into  matri 
mony,  for  marriage  was  almost  invariably  for  life. 
There  were,  of  course,  sorry*  sp.pfl.rfl.ti on a;  and  now""and 
then  a  divorce,  but  since  unfaithfulness  was  practically 
the  only  reason  that  a  court  would  consider,  there  was 
but  little  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of  this  modern 
legal  form  of  freedom.  Moreover,  the  magistrates  ruled 
that  the  guilty  person  mi%ht  not  remarry;  but  although 
they  strove  zealously  in  some  sections  to  enforce  this 
rule,  the  rougher  members  of  society  easily  evaded  it  by 
moving  into  another  colony.  Sewall  makes  mention  of 
applications  for  divorce;  but  when  such  a  catastrophe 
seemed  imminent  in  his  own  family  he  opposed  it 
strongly. 

»*  Weeden:  Economic,  &  Social  Hittory  of  N.  Bng.,  Vol.  I,  p.  299. 


264  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

Let  us  examine  this  case,  not  for  the  purpose  of  impu 
dently  staring  at  the  family  skeleton  in  the  good  old 
Judge's  closet,  but  that  we  may  see  that  wedlock  was  not 
always  "  one  glad,  sweet  song,"  even  in  Puritan  days. 
His  eldest  son  Samuel  had  such  serious  difficulties  with 
the  woman  whom  he  married  that  at  length  the  couple 
separated  and  lived  apart  for  several  years.  The  pious 
judge  worried  and  fretted  over  the  scandal  for  a  long 
while;  but,  of  course,  such  affairs  will  happen  in  even 
the  best  of  families.  The  record  of  the  marriage  runs 
as  follows:  "  September  15,  1702.  Mr.  Nehemiah 
Walter  marries  Mr.  Sam.  Sewall  and  Mrs.  Rebekah 
Dudley."  Evidently  Mrs.  Rebekah  Dudley  Sewall  was 
not  so  meek  as  the  average  Puritan  wife  is  generally 
pictured;  for  on  February  13,  1712,  the  judge  noted: 
"  When  my  daughter  alone,  I  ask'd  her  what  might  be 
the  cause  of  my  Son's  Indisposition,  are  you  so  kindly 
affectioned  one  towards  one  another  as  you  should  be? 
She  answer'd  I  do  my  Duty.  I  said  no  more.  .  .  ,"33 

Six  days  later  the  troubled  father  wrote:  "  Lecture- 
day,  son  S.  Goes  to  Meeting,  speaks  to  Mr.  Walter.  I 
also  speak  to  him  to  dine.  He  could  not;  but  said  he 
would  call  before  he  went  home.  When  he  came  he 
discours'd  largly  with  my  son.  .  .  .  Friends  talk  to 
them  both,  and  so  come  together  again."33 

Two  days  later:  "  Daughter  Sewall  calls  and  gives  us 
a  visit;  I  went  out  to  carry  my  Letters  to  Savil's.  .  .  . 
While  I  was  absent,  My  Wife  and  Daughter  Sewall  had 
very  sharp  discourse;  She  wholly  justified  herself,  and 
said,  if  it  were  not  for  her,  no  Maid  could  be  able  to 
dwell  at  their  house.  At  last  Daughter  Sewall  burst  out 

«  Vol.  II,  p.  371. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Marriage  265 

with  Tears,  and  call'd  for  the  Calash.  My  wife  relented 
also,  and  said  she  did  not  design  to  grieve  her."34 

Evidently  affairs  went  from  bad  to  worse,  even  to  the 
point  where  Sam  ate  his  meals  alone  and  probably  pre 
pared  them  too;  for  the  Judge  at  length  notes  in  his 
Diary:  "  I  goe  to  Brooklin,  meet  my  daughter  Sewall 
going  to  Roxbury  with  Hanah.  .  .  .  Sam  and  I  dined 
alone.  Daughter  return'd  before  I  came  away.  I 
propounded  to  her  that  Mr.  Walter  (the  pastor)  might 
be  desired  to  come  to  them  and  pray  with  them.  She 
seemed  not  to  like  the  notion,  said  she  knew  not  where 
fore  she  should  be  call'd  before  a  Minister.  ...  I 
urg'd  him  as  the  fittest  Moderator;  the  Govr.  or  I 
might  be  thought  partial.  She  pleaded  her  performance 
of  Duty,  and  how  much  she  had  born.  .  .  ,"35 

It  is  apparent  that  the  spirit  of  independence,  if  not  of 
stubbornness,  was  strong  in  Mrs.  Samuel,  Jr.  At 
length,  what  seems  to  have  been  the  true  motive,  jealousy 
on  the  part  of  the  husband,  appears  in  the  record  by  the 
father,  and  from  all  the  evidence  Samuel  might  well  be 
jealous,  as  future  events  will  show.  To  return  to  the 
Diary:  "  Sam  and  his  Wife  dine  here,  go  home  together 
in  the  Calash.  William  Ilsly  rode  and  pass'd  by  them. 
My  son  warn'd  him  not  to  lodge  at  his  house;  Daughter 
said  she  had  as  much  to  doe  with  the  house  as  he.  Ilsly 
lodg'd  there.  Sam  grew  so  ill  on  Satterday,  that  instead 
of  going  to  Roxbury  he  was  fain  between  Meetings  to 
take  his  Horse,  and  come  hither;  to  the  surprise  of  his 
Mother  who  was  at  home.  .  .  ,"36  A  few  days  later: 
"  Sam  is  something  better;  yet  full  of  pain;  He  told  me 

"Diary,  Vol.  II,  p.  371. 
«  Vol.  II,  p.  400. 
"Vol.  II,  p.  405. 


266  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

with  Tears  that  these  sorrows  would  bring  him  to  his 
Grave.  .  .  ,"37 

It  appears  that  the  daughter-in-law  was,  for  the  most 
part,  silent  but  vigilant;  for  about  five  weeks  after  the 
above  entry  Judge  Sewall  records:  "  My  Son  Joseph  and 
I  visited  my  Son  at  Brooklin,  sat  with  my  Daughter  in 
the  chamber  some  considerable  time,  Drank  Cider,  eat 
Apples.  Daughter  said  nothing  to  us  of  her  Griev 
ances,  nor  we  to  her.  .  .  ,"38  The  lady,  however,  while 
she  might  control  her  tongue,  could  not  control  her  pen, 
and  just  when  harmony  was  on  the  point  of  being 
restored,  a  letter  from  her  gave  the  affair  a  most  serious 
backset.  "  Son  Sewall  intended  to  go  home  on  the 
Horse  Tom  brought,  sent  some  of  his  Linen  by  him; 
but  when  I  came  to  read  his  wive's  letter  to  me,  his 
Mother  was  vehemently  against  his  going:  and  I  was 
for  considering.  .  .  .  Visited  Mr.  Walter,  staid  long 
with  him,  read  my  daughters  Letters  to  her  Husband 
and  me;  yet  he  still  advis'd  to  his  going  home.  .  .  . 
My  wife  can't  yet  agree  to  my  Son's  going  home.  .  .  ,"39 

Sam  seems  to  have  remained  at  his  father's  home. 
The  matter  was  taken  up  by  the  parents,  apparently 
in  the  hope  that  they  with  their  greater  wisdom  might 
be  able  to  bring  about  an  understanding.  "  Went 
a  foot  to  Roxbury.  Govr.  Dudley  was  gon  to  his  Mill. 
Staid  till  he  came  home.  I  acquainted  him  what  my 
Business  was;  He  and  Madam  Dudley  both  reckon'd 
up  the  Offenses  of  my  Son;  and  He  the  Virtues  of  his 
Daughter.  And  alone,  mention'd  to  me  the  hainous 
faults  of  my  wife,  who  the  very  first  word  ask'd  my 

"  Vol.  II,  p.  406. 
"Diary:  Vol.  Ill,  p.  31. 
»•  Diary:  Vol.  Ill,  p.  40. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Marriage  267 

daughter  why  she  married  my  Son  except  she  lov'd 
him?  I  saw  no  possibility  of  my  Son's  return;  and 
therefore  asked  that  he  would  make  some  Proposals, 
and  so  left  it.  .  .  ."40 

Thus  the  months  lengthened  into  years,  and  still  the 
couple  were  apart.  Meanwhile  the  scandal  was  in 
creased  by  the  birth  of  a  child  to  the  wife.  Samuel  had 
left  her  on  January  22,  1714,  and  did  not  return  to  her 
until  March  3,  1718;  apparently  the  child  was  born 
during  the  summer  of  1717.  The  Judge,  in  sore  straits, 
records  on  August  29,  1717:  "  Went,  according,  after  a 
little  waiting  on  some  Probat  business  to  Govr.  Dudley. 
I  said  my  Son  had  all  along  insisted  that  Caution  should 
be  given,  that  the  infant  lately  born  should  not  be 
chargeable  to  his  Estate.  Govr.  Dudley  no  ways  came 
into  it;  but  said  'twas  best  as  'twas,  no  body  knew  whose 
'twas  [word  illegible],  to  bring  it  up."41 

Whether  or  not  the  disgrace  shortened  the  life  of 
Mother  Sewall  we  shall  never  know;  but  the  fact  is 
recorded  that  she  died  on  October  23,  1717.  There 
follows  a  rather  lengthy  silence  concerning  Sam's  affairs, 
and  at  length  on  February  24,  1718,  we  note  the  fol 
lowing  good  news:  "  My  Son  Sam  Sewall  and  his  Wife 
Sign  and  Seal  the  Writings  in  order  to  my  Son's  going 
home.  Govr.  Dudley  and  I  Witnesses,  Mr.  Sam  Lynde 
took  the  Acknowledgment.  I  drank  to  my  Daughter  in 
a  Glass  of  Canary.  Govr.  Dudley  took  me  into  the  Old 
Hall  and  gave  me  £100  in  Three-pound  Bills  of  Credit, 
new  ones,  for  my  Son,  told  me  on  Monday,  he  would 
perform  all  that  he  had  promised  to  Mr.  Walter.  Sam 

"Diary:  Vol.  Ill,  p.  108. 
«  Diary:  Vol.  Ill,  p.  137. 


268  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

agreed  to  go  home  next  Monday,  his  wife  sending  the 
Horse  for  him.  Joseph  pray'd  with  his  Bror  and  me. 
Note.  This  was  my  Wedding  Day.  The  Lord  succeed 
and  turn  to  good  what  we  have  been  doing.  .  .  ,"42 

Is  it  not  evident  that  at  least  in  some  instances  women 
in  colonial  days  were  not  the  meek  and  sweetly  humble 
creatures  so  often  described  in  history,  fiction,  and  verse? 

VIII.  Marriage  in  Pennsylvania 
If  there  was  any  approach  toward  laxness  in  the 
marriage  laws  of  the  colonies,  it  may  have  been  in 
Pennsylvania.  Ben  Franklin  confesses  very  frankly 
that  his  wife's  former  husband  had  deserted  her,  and  that 
no  divorce  had  been  obtained.  There  was  a  decidedly 
indefinite  rumor  that  the  former  spouse  had  died,  and 
Ben  considered  this  sufficient.  The  case  was  even  more 
complicated,  but  perhaps  Franklin  thought  that  one  ill 
cured  another.  As  he  states  in  his  Autobiography: 
11  Our  mutual  affection  was  revived,  but  there  were 
no  great  objections  to  our  union.  The  match  was  indeed 
looked  upon  as  invalid,  a  preceding  wife  being  said  to 
be  living  in  England;  but  this  could  not  easily  be  prov'd, 
because  of  the  distance,  and  tho'  there  was  a  report  of 
his  death,  it  was  not  certain.  Then,  tho'  it  should  be 
true,  he  had  left  many  debts,  which  his  successor  might 
be  call'd  upon  to  pay.  We  ventured,  however,  over  all 
these  difficulties,  and  I  took  her  to  wife  Sept.  1st,  1730."43 
Among  the  Quakers  the  marriage  ceremony  consisted 
simply  of  the  statement  of  a  mutual  pledge  by  the 
contracting  parties  in  the  presence  of  the  congregation, 

«  Diary:  Vol.  Ill,  p.  173. 
"  Writings,  Vol.  I,  p.  310. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Marriage  269 

and,  this  being  done,  all  went  quietly  about  their  busi 
ness  without  ado  or  merry-making.  The  pledge  recited 
by  the  first  husband  of  Dolly  Madison  was  doubtless  a 
typical  one  among -the  Friends  of  Pennsylvania:  "'I, 
John  Todd,  do  take  thee,  Dorothea  Payne,  to  be  my 
wedded  wife,  and  promise,  through  divine  assistance,  to 
be  unto  thee  a  loving  husband,  until  separated  by  death.' 
The  bride  in  fainter  tones  echoed  the  vow,  and  then  the 
certificate  of  marriage  was  read,  and  the  register  signed 
by  a  number  of  witnesses.  .  .  .J>44 

Doubtless  the  courtship  among  these  early  Quakers 
was  brief  and  calm,  but  among  the  Moravians  of  the 
same  colony  it  was  so  brief  as  to  amount  to  none  at  all. 
Hear  Franklin's  description  of  the  manner  of  choosing  a 
wife  in  this  curious  sect:  "  I  inquir'd  concerning  the 
Moravian  marriages,  whether  the  report  was  true  that 
they  were  by  lot.  I  was  told  that  lots  were  us'd  only  in 
particular  cases;  that  generally,  when  a  young  man 
found  himself  dispos'd  to  marry,  he  inform'd  the  elders 
of  his  class,  who  consulted  the  elder  ladies  that  govern'd 
the  young  women.  As  these  elders  of  the  different 
sexes  were  well  acquainted  with  the  temper  and  disposi 
tions  of  the  respective  pupils,  they  could  best  judge  what 
matches  were  suitable,  and  their  judgments  were  gener 
ally  acquiesc'd  in;  but,  if,  for  example,  it  should  happen 
that  two  or  three  young  women  were  found  to  be  equally 
proper  for  the  young  man,  the  lot  was  then  recurred  to. 
I  objected,  if  the  matches  are  not  made  by  the  mutual 
choice  of  the  parties,  some  of  them  may  chance  to  be 
very  unhappy.  *  And  so  they  may,'  answer'd  my 
informer,  '  if  you  let  the  parties  chuse  for  themselves.'  "45 

44  Goodwin:    Dolly  Madison,  p.  33. 
45 Smyth:   Franklin,  Vol.  I,  p.  413. 


270  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

We  have  seen  that  the  Dutch  of  New  York  did  let 
them  "  chuse  for  themselves,"  even  while  they  were  yet 
children.  The  forming  of  the  children  into  companies, 
and  the  custom  of  marrying  within  a  particular  company 
seemingly  was  an  excellent  plan;  for  it  appears  that  as 
the  years  passed  the  children  grew  toward  each  other; 
they  learned  each  others  likes  and  dislikes;  they  had 
become  true  helpmates  long  before  the  wedding.  As 
Mrs.  Grant  observes:  "Love,  undiminished  by  any 
rival  passion,  and  cherished  by  innocence  and  candor, 
was  here  fixed  by  the  power  of  early  habit,  and  strength 
ened  by  similarity  of  education,  tastes,  and  attach 
ments.  Inconstancy,  or  even  indifference  among  mar 
ried  couples,  was  unheard  of,  even  where  there  happened 
to  be  a  considerable  disparity  in  point  of  intellect.  The 
extreme  affection  they  bore  to  their  mutual  offspring 
was  a  bond  that  for  ever  endeared  them  to  each  other. 
Marriage  in  this  colony  was  always  early,  very  often 
happy.  When  a  man  had  a  son,  there  was  nothing  to  be 
expected  with  a  daughter,  but  a  well  brought-up  female 
slave,  and  the  furniture  of  the  best  bedchamber.  .  .  ,"48 

IX.     Marriage  in  the  South 

In  colonial  Virginia  and  South  Carolina  weddings  were 
seldom,  if  ever,  performed  by  a  magistrate;  the  public 
sentiment  created  by  the  Church  of  England  demanded 
the  offices  of  a  clergyman.  Far  more  was  made  of  a 
wedding  in  these  Southern  colonies  than  in  New  England, 
and  after  the  return  from  the  church,  the  guests  often 
made  the  great  mansion  shake  with  their  merry-making. 
No  aristocratic  marriage  would  have  been  complete 

**  Memoirs  of  an  American  Lady,  p.  53. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Marriage  271 

without  dancing  and  hearty  refreshments,  and  many  a 
new  match  was  made  in  celebrating  a  present  one. 

The  old  story  of  how  the  earlier  settlers  purchased 
their  wives  with  from  one  hundred  twenty  to  one  hundred 
fifty  pounds  of  tobacco  per  woman  —  a  pound  of  sot- 
weed  for  a  pound  of  flesh,  —  is  too  well  known  to  need 
repetition  here;  suffice  to  say  it  did  not  become  a  custom. 
Nor  is  there  any  reason  to  believe  that  marriages  thus 
brought  about  were  any  less  happy  than  those  resulting 
from  prolonged  courtships.  These  girls  were  strong, 
healthy,  moral  women  from  crowded  England,  and  they 
came  prepared  to  do  their  share  toward  making  domestic 
life  a  success.  American  books  of  history  have  said 
much  about  the  so-called  indented  women  who  promised 
for  their  ship  fare  from  England  to  serve  a  certain  number 
of  months  or  years  on  the  Virginia  plantations;  but  the 
early  records  of  the  colonies  really  offer  rather  scant 
information.  This  was  but  natural;  for  such  women 
had  but  little  in  common  with  the  ladies  of  the  aristo 
cratic  circle,  and  there  was  no  apparent  reason  for  writing 
extensively  about  them.  But  it  should  not  be  thought 
that  they  were  always  rough,  uncouth,  enslaved  crea 
tures.  The  great  majority  were  decent  women  of  the 
English  rural  class,  able  and  willing  to  do  hard  work, 
but  unable  to  find  it  in  England.  Many  of  them,  after 
serving  their  time,  married  into  respectable  families, 
and  in  some  instances  reared  children  who  became  men 
and  women  of  considerable  note.  There  can  be  little 
doubt  that  while  paying  for  their  ship-fare  they  labored 
hard,  and  sometimes  were  forced  to  mingle  with  the 
negroes  and  the  lowest  class  of  white  men  in  heavy  toil. 
John  Hammond,  a  Marylander,  who  had  great  admira- 


272  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

tion  for  his  adopted  land,  tried  to  ignore  this  point,  but 
the  evidence  is  rather  against  him.  Says  he  in  his 
Leah  and  Rachel  of  1656: 

"  The  Women  are  not  (as  is  reported)  put  into  the 
ground  to  worke,  but  occupie  such  domestique  imploy- 
ments  and  housewifery  as  in  England,  that  is  dressing 
victuals,  righting  up  the  house,  milking,  imployed  about 
dayries,  washing,  sowing,  etc.,  and  both  men  and  women 
have  times  of  recreations,  as  much  or  more  than  in  any 
part  of  the  world  besides,  yet  some  wenches  that  are 
nasty,  beastly  and  not  fit  to  be  so  imployed  are  put  into 
the  ground,  for  reason  tells  us,  they  must  not  at  charge 
be  transported,  and  then  maintained  for  nothing." 

Of  course  among  the  lower  rural  classes  not  only  of  the 
South,  but  of  the  Middle  Colonies,  a  wedding  was  an 
occasion  for  much  coarse  joking,  horse-play,  and  rough 
hilarity,  such  as  bride-stealing,  carousing,  and  hideous 
serenades  with  pans,  kettles,  and  skillet  lids.  Especially 
was  this  the  case  among  the  farming  class  of  Connecti 
cut,  where  the  marriage  festivities  frequently  closed  with 
damages  both  to  person  and  to  property. 


X.     Romance  in  Marriage 

Perhaps  to  the  modern  woman  the  colonial  marriage, 
with  its  fixed  rules  of  courtship,  the  permission  to  court, 
the  signed  contract  and  the^  dowry,  seems  decidedly 
commonplace  and  unromantic;  but,  after  all,  this  is  not 
a  true  conclusion.  The  colonists  loved  as  ardently  as 
ever  men  and  women  have,  and  they  found  as  mucTTjoy, 
and  doubtless  of  as  lasting  a  kind,  in  the  union,  as  we 
moderns  find.  Many  bits  of  proof  might  be  cited. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Marriage  273 

Hear,  for  instance,  how  Benedict  Arnold  proposed  to 
his  beloved  Peggy: 

"  Dear  Madam:  Twenty  times  have  I  taken  up  my 
pen  to  write  to  you,  and  as  often  has  my  trembling  hand 
refused  to  obey  the  dictates  of  my  heart  —  a  heart 
which,  though  calm  and  serene  amidst  the  clashing  of 
arms  and  all  the  din  and  horrors  of  war,  trembles  with 
diffidence  and  the  fear  of  giving  offence  when  it  attempts 
to  address  you  on  a  subject  so  important  to  his  happiness. 
Dear  Madam,  your  charms  have  lighted  up  a  flame  in 
my  bosom  which  can  never  be  extinguished;  your 
heavenly  image  is  too  deeply  impressed  ever  to  be 
effaced.  .  .  . 

"  On  you  alone  my  happiness  depends,  and  will  you 
doom  me  to  languish  in  despair?  Shall  I  expect  no 
return  to  the  most  sincere,  ardent,  and  disinterested 
passion?  Do  you  feel  no  pity  in  your  gentle  bosom  for 
the  man  who  would  die  to  make  you  happy?  .  .  . 

"  Consider  before  you  doom  me  to  misery,  which  I 
have  not  deserved  but  by  loving  you  too  extravagantly. 
Consult  your  own  happiness,  and  if  incompatible,  forget 
there  is  so  unhappy  a  wretch;  for  may  I  perish  if  I 
would  give  you  one  moment's  inquietude  to  purchase  the 
greatest  possible  felicity  to  myself.  Whatever  my  fate 
is,  my  most  ardent  wish  is  for  your  happiness,  and  my 
latest  breath  will  be  to  implore  the  blessing  of  heaven 
on  the  idol  and  only  wish  of  my  soul.  .  .  ." 

And  Alexander  Hamilton  wrote  this  of  his  "  Betty  ": 
"  I  suspect  .  .  .  that  if  others  knew  the  charm  of 
my  sweetheart  as  I  do,  I  would  have  a  great  num 
ber  of  competitors.  I  wish  I  could  give  you  an  idea 
of  her.  You  have  no  conception  of  how  sweet  a  girl 


274  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

she  is.  It  is  only  in  my  heart  that  her  image  is  truly 
drawn.  She  has  a  lovely  form,  and  still  more  lovely 
mind.  She  is  all  Goodness,  the  gentlest,  the  dearest, 
the  tenderest  of  her  sex  —  Ah,  Betsey,  How  I  love 
her.  .  .  .,'47 

And  let  those  who  doubt  that  there  was  romance  in 
the  wooing  of  the  old  days  read  the  story  of  Agnes 
Surrage,  the  humble  kitchen  maid,  who,  while  scrubbing 
the  tavern  floor,  attracted  the  attention  of  handsome 
Harry  Frankland,  custom  officer  of  Boston,  scion  of  a 
noble  English  family.  With  a  suspiciously  sudden 
interest  in  her,  he  obtained  permission  from  her  parents 
to  have  her  educated,  and  for  a  number  of  years  she  was 
given  the  best  training  and  culture  that  money  could 
purchase.  Then,  when  she  was  twenty-four,  Frankland 
wished  to  marry  her;  but  his  proud  family  would  not 
consent,  and  even  threatened  to  disinherit  him.  The 
couple,  in  despair,  defied  all  conventionalities,  and  Frank- 
land  took  her  to  live  with  him  at  his  Boston  residence. 
Conservative  Boston  was  properly  scandalized  —  so 
much  so  that  the  lovers  retired  to  a  beautiful  country 
home  near  the  city,  where  for  some  time  they  lived  in 
what  the  New  Englanders  considered  ungodly  happi 
ness.  Then  the  couple  visited  England,  hoping  that  the 
elder  Franklands  would  forgive,  but  the  family  snubbed 
the  beautiful  American,  and  made  life  so  unpleasant  for 
her  that  young  Frankland  took  her  to  Madrid.  Finally 
at  Lisbon  the  crisis  came ;  for  in  the  terrors  of  the  famous 
earthquake  he  was  injured  and  separated  from  her,  and 
in  his  misery  he  vowed  that  when  he  found  her,  he  would 
marry  her  in  spite  of  all.  This  he  did,  and  upon  their 

•f  Humphreys:    Catherine  Schuyler,  p.  185. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Marriage  275 

return  to  Boston  they  were  received  as  kindly  as  before 
they  had  been  scornfully  rejected. 

Mrs.  Frankland  became  a  prominent  member  of 
society,  was  even  presented  at  Court,  and  for  some  years 
was  looked  upon  as  one  of  the  most  lovable  women 
residing  in  London.  When  in  1768  her  husband  died, 
she  returned  to  America,  and  made  her  home  at  Boston, 
where  in  Revolutionary  days  she  suffered  so  greatly 
through  her  Tory  inclinations  that  she  fled  once  more  to 
England.  What  more  pleasing  romance  could  one 
want?  It  has  all  the  essentials  of  the  old-fashioned 
novel  of  love  and  adventure. 

XI.     Feminine  Independence 

Certainly  in  the  above  instance  we  have  once  more  an 
independence  on  the  part  of  colonial  woman  certainly 
not  emphasized  in  the  books  on  early  American  history. 
As  Humphreys  says  in  Catherine  Schuyler:  "  The  inde 
pendence  of  the  modern  girl  seems  pale  and  ineffectual 
beside  that  of  the  daughters  of  the  Revolution."  There 
is,  for  instance,  the  saucy  wnm?m  told  of  in  Garden's 
Anecdotes  of  the  Revolutionary  War:  "  Mrs.  Daniel  Hall, 
having  obtained  permission  to  pay  a  visit  to  her  mother 
on  John's  Island,  was  on  the  point  of  embarking,  when 
an  officer,  stepping  forward,  in  the  most  authoritative 
manner,  demanded  the  key  of  her  trunk.  '  What  do 
you  expect  to  find  there?  '  said  the  lady.  '  I  seek  for 
treason,'  was  the  reply.  '  You  may  save  yourself  the 
trouble  of  searching,  then,'  said  Mrs.  Hall;  '  for  you  can 
find  a  plenty  of  it  at  my  tongue's  end.'  " 

The  daughters  of  General  Schuyler  certainly  showed 
independence;  for  of  the  four,  only  one,  Elisabeth,  wife 


276  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

of  Hamilton,  was  married  with  the  father's  consent,  and 
in  his  home.  Shortly  after  the  battle  of  Saratoga  the 
old  warrior  announced  the  marriage  of  his  eldest  daughter 
away  from  home,  and  showed  his  chagrin  in  the  following 
expression:  "  Carter  and  my  eldest  daughter  ran  off 
and  were  married  on  the  23rd  of  July.  Unacquainted 
with  his  family  connections  and  situation  in  life,  the 
matter  was  exceedingly  disagreeable,  and  I  signified  it  to 
them."  Six  years  later,  the  charming  Peggy  eloped, 
when  there  was  no  reason  for  it,  with  Steven  Rensselaer, 
a  man  who  afterwards  became  a  powerful  leader  in  New 
York  commercial  and  political  movements.  The  third 
escapade,  that  of  Cornelia,  was  still  more  romantic; 
for,  having  attended  the  wedding  of  Eliza  Morton  in 
New  Jersey,  she  met  the  bride's  brother  and  promptly 
fell  in  love  with  him.  Her  father  as  promptly  refused  to 
sanction  the  match,  and  demanded  that  the  girl  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  young  man.  One  evening  not 
long  afterwards,  as  Humphreys  describes  it,  two  muffled 
figures  appeared  under  Miss  Cornelia's  window.  At  a 
low  whistle,  the  window  softly  opened,  and  a  rope  was 
thrown  up.  Attached  to  the  rope  was  a  rope  ladder, 
which,  making  fast,  like  a  veritable  heroine  of  romance 
the  bride  descended.  They  were  driven  to  the  river, 
where  a  boat  was  waiting  to  take  them  across.  On  the 
other  side  was  the  coach-and-pair.  They  were  then 
driven  thirty  miles  across  country  to  Stockbridge,  where 
an  old  friend  of  the  Morton  family  lived.  The  affair 
had  gone  too  far.  The  Judge  sent  for  a  neighboring 
minister,  and  the  runaways  were  duly  married.  So 
flagrant  a  breach  of  the  paternal  authority  was  not  to 
be  hastily  forgiven.  ...  As  in  the  case  of  the  other  run- 


Colonial  Woman  and  Marriage  277 

aways,  the  youthful  Mortons  disappointed  expectation, 
by  becoming  important  householders  and  taking  a 
prominent  place  in  the  social  life  of  New  York,  where 
Washington  Morton  achieved  some  distinction  at  the 
bar."48 

It  is  evident  that  in  affairs  of  love,  if  not  in  numerous 
other  phases  of  life,  colonial  women  had  much  liberty, 
and  if  the  liberty  were  denied  them,  took  affairs  into 
their  own  hands,  and  generally  attained  their  heart's 
desire. 

XII.     Matrimonial  Advice 

Through  the  letters  of  the  day  many  hints  have  come 
down  to  us  of  what  colonial  men  and  women  deemed 
important  in  matters  of  love  and  marriage.  Thus,  we 
find  Washington  writing  Nelly  Custis,  warning  her  to 
beware  of  how  she  played  with  the  human  heart  — 
especially  her  own.  Women  wrote  many  similar  warn 
ings  for  the  benefit  of  their  friends  or  even  for  the  benefit 
of  themselves.  Jane  Turell  early  in  the  eighteenth 
century  went  so  far  as  to  write  down  a  set  of  rules  govern 
ing  her  own  conduct  in  such  affairs,  and  some  of  these 
have  come  down  to  us  through  her  husband's  Memoir 
of  her: 

"  I  would  admit  the  addresses  of  no  person  who  is  not 
descended  of  pious  and  credible  parents. 

"  Who  has  not  the  character  of  a  strict  moralist,  sober, 
temperate,  just  and  honest. 

"  Diligent  in  his  business,  and  prudent  in  matters. 
Of  a  sweet  and  agreeable  temper;  for  if  he  be  owner  of 
all  the  former  good  qualifications,  and  fails  here,  my  life 
will  be  still  uncomfortable." 

«  Catherine  Schuyler:  p.  204. 


278  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

Whether  the  first  of  these  rules  would  have  amounted 
to  anything  if  she  had  suddenly  been  attracted  by  a  man 
of  whose  ancestry  she  knew  nothing,  is  doubtful;  but 
the  catalog  of  regulations  shows  at  least  that  the  girls  of 
colonial  days  did  some  thinking  for  themselves  on  the 
subject  of  matrimony,  and  did  not  leave  the  matter 
to  their  elders  to  settle. 

XIII.  Matrimonial  Irregularities 
There  is  one  rather  unpleasant  phase  of  the  marriage 
question  of  colonial  days  that  we  may  not  in  justice 
omit,  and  that  is  the  irregular  marriage  or  union  and  the 
punishment  for  it  and  for  the  violation  of  the  marriage 
vow.  No  small  amount  of  testimony  from  diaries  and 
records  has  come  down  to  us  to  prove  that  such  irregulari 
ties  existed  throughout  all  the  colonies.  Indeed,  the 
evidence  indicates  that  this  form  of  crime  was  a  constant 
source  of  irritation  to  both  magistrates  and  clergy. 

The  penalty  for^aduliery  in  early  Massachusetts  was 
whipping  at  the  cart's  tail,  branding,  banishment,  or 
even  death.  It  is  a  common  impression  that  the  larger 
number  of  colonists  were  God-fearing  people  who  led 
upright,  blameless  lives,  and  this  impression  is  correct; 
few  nations  have  ever  had  so  high  a  percentage  of  men 
of  lofty  ideals.  It  is  natural,  therefore,  that  such  people 
should  be  most  severe  in  dealing  with  those  who  dared  to 
lower  the  high  morality  of  the  new  commonwealths 
dedicated  to  righteousness.  But  even  the  Puritans  and 
Cavaliers  were  merely  human,  and  crime  would  enter 
in  spite  of  all  efforts  to  the  contrary.  Bold  adventurers, 
disreputable  spirits,  men  and  women  with  little  respect 
for  the  laws  of  man  or  of  God,  crept  into  their  midst; 


Colonial   Woman  and  Marriage  279 

many  of  the  immigrants  to  the  Middle  and  Southern 
Colonies  were  refugees  from  the  streets  and  prisons  of 
London;  some  of  the  indented  servants  had  but  crude 
notions  of  morality;  sometimes,  indeed,  the  Old  Adam, 
suppressed  for  generations,  broke  out  in  even  the  most 
respectable  of  godly  families. 

Both  Sewall  and  Winthrop  have  left  records  of  grave 
offences  and  transgressions  against  social  decency. 
About  1632  a  law  was  passed  in  Massachusetts  punishing 
adultery  with  death,  and  Winthrop  notes  that  at  the 
"  court  of  assistants  such  an  act  was  adopted  though 
it  could  not  at  first  be  enforced."49  In  1643  he  records: 

"  At  this  court  of  assistants  one  James  Britton  .  .  . 
and  Mary  Latham,  a  proper  young  woman  about  18 
years  of  age  .  .  .  were  condemned  to  die  for  adultery, 
upon  a  law  formerly  made  and  published  in  print.  .  .  ."60 

A  year  or  two  before  this  he  records:  "  Another  case 
fell  out  about  Mr.  Maverick  of  Nottles  Island,  who  had 
been  formerly  fined  £100  for  giving  entertainment  to  Mr. 
Owen  and  one  Hale's  wife  who  had  escaped  out  of 
prison,  where  they  had  been  put  for  notorious  suspicion 
of  adultery."  The  editor  adds,  "  Sarah  Hales,  the  wife 
of  William  Hales,  was  censured  for  her  miscarriage  to  be 
carried  to  the  gallows  with  a  rope  about  her  neck,  and 
to  sit  an  hour  upon  the  ladder;  the  rope's  end  flung  over 
the  gallows,  and  after  to  be  banished."51 

Some  women  in  Massachusetts  actually  paid  the 
penalty  of  death.  Then,  too,  as  late  as  SewalPs  day 
we  find  mention  of  severe  laws  dealing  with  inter 
marriage  of  relatives:  "  June  14,  1695:  The  Bill  against 

«•  History  of  New  England,  Vol.  I,  p.  73. 

»°  History  of  New  England,  Vol.  II.  p.  190. 

»»  Winthrop:   History  of  New  England,  Vol.  II,  p.  61. 


280  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

Incest  was  passed  with  the  Deputies,  four  and  twenty 
Nos,  and  seven  and  twenty  Yeas.  The  Ministers  gave 
in  their  Arguments  yesterday,  else  it  had  hardly  gon, 
because  several  have  married  their  wives  sisters,  and  the 
Deputies  thought  it  hard  to  part  them.  'Twas  con 
cluded  on  the  other  hand,  that  not  to  part  them,  were  to 
make  the  Law  abortive,  by  begetting  in  people  a  con- 
ceipt  that  such  Marriages  were  not  against  the  Law  of 
God/'52 

The  use  of  the  death  penalty  for  adultery  seems,  how 
ever,  to  have  ceased  before  the  days  of  Sewall's  Diary: 
for,  though  he  often  mentions  the  crime,  he  makes  no 
mention  of  such  a  punishment.  The  custom  of  execu 
tion  for  far  less  heinous  offences  was  prevalent  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  as  any  reader  of  Defoe  and  other 
writers  of  his  day  is  well  aware,  and  certainly  the  Ameri 
can  colonists  cannot  be  blamed  for  exercising  the  severest 
laws  against  offenders  of  so  serious  a  nature  against 
society.  The  execution  of  a  woman  was  no  unusual  act 
anywhere  in  the  world  during  the  seventeenth'ancTeight- 
eenth  centuries,  and  the  Americans  did  not  hesitate  to 
give  the  extreme  penalty  tojfemale  criminals.  Sewall 
rather  cold-bloodedly  records  a  number  of  such  execu 
tions  and  reveals  absolutely  no  spirit  of  protest. 

"  Thorsday,  June  8,  1693.  Elisabeth  Emerson  of 
Haverhill  and  a  Negro  Woman  were  executed  after 
Lecture,  for  murdering  their  Infant  children."53 

"Monday,  7r,  llth.  .  .  .  The  Mother  of  a  Bastard 
Child  condemned  for  murthering  it.  .  .  ,"54 

"  Sept.  25th,  1691.     Elisabeth  Clements  of  Haverhill 

"  Diary:  Vol    II,  p.  407. 
»»  Diary:   Vol.  I,  p.  379. 
"Diary:  Vol.  II,  p.  288. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Marriage  281 

is  tried  for   murdering   her   two   female   bastard    chil 
dren.   .  .   ,"55 

"  Friday,  July  10th,  1685.  ...  Mr.  Stoughton  also 
told  me  of  George  Car's  wife  being  with  child  by  another 
Man,  tells  the  Father,  Major  Pike  sends  her  down  to 
Prison.  Is  the  Governour's  Grandchild  by  his  daughter 
Cotton.  .  .  ,"56 

From  the  court  records  in  Howard's  History  of  Matri 
monial  Institutions  we  learn:  "  '  In  1648  the  Corte 
acquit  Elisa  Pennion  of  the  capitall  offence  charged  upon 
her  by  2  sevrall  inditements  for  adultery/  but  sentence 
her  to  be  '  whiped  '  in  Boston,  and  again  at  '  Linn  wthin 
one  month.'  '  "  On  a  special  verdict  by  the  jury  the 
assistants  sentenced  Elizabeth  Hudson  and  Bethia 
Bulloine  (Bullen)  '  married  women  and  sisters,'  to  l  be 
by  the  Marshall  Generall  ...  on  ye  next  lecture  day 
presently  after  the  lecture  carried  to  the  Gallowes  & 
there  by  ye  Executioner  set  on  the  ladder  &  with  a 
Roape  about  her  neck  to  stand  on  the  Gallowes  an  half 
houre  &  then  brought  ...  to  the  market  place  &  be 
seriously  whipt  wth  tenn  stripes  or  pay  the  Sume  of 
tenn  pounds'  standing  committed  till  the  sentence  be 
performed.'  "57 

When  punishment  by  death  came  to  be  considered  too 
severe  and  when  the  crime  seemed  to  deserve  more  than 
whipping,  the  guilty  one  was  frequently  given  a  mark  of 
disgrace  by  means  of  branding,  so  that  for  all  time  any 
one  might  see  and  think  upon  the  penalty  for  such  a 
sin.     All  modern  readers  are  familiar  with  the  Salem 
form  —  the  scarlet  letter  —  made  so  famous  by  Haw 
s'  Diary:  Vol.  I,  p.  349. 
M  Diary:  Vol.  I,  p.  87. 
"  P.  170. 


282  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

thorne,  a  mark  sometimes  sewed  upon  the  bosom  or  the 
sleeve  of  the  dress,  sometimes  burnt  into  the  flesh  of  the 
breast.  Howard,  who  has  made  such  fruitful  search  in 
the  history  of  marriage,  presents  several  specimens  of 
this  strange  kind  of  punishment: 

"  In  1639  in  Plymouth  a  woman  was  sentenced  to 
'  be  whipt  at  a  cart  tayle  '  through  the  streets,  and  to 
'  weare  a  badge  upon  her  left  sleeue  during  her  aboad  ' 
within  the  government.  If  found  at  any  time  abroad 
without  the  badge,  she  was  to  be  '  burned  in  the  face 
wth  a  hott  iron.7  Two  years  later  a  man  and  a  woman 
for  the  same  offence  (adultery)  were  severely  whipped 
1  at  the  publik  post '  and  condemned  while  in  the  colony 
to  wear  the  letters  AD  '  upon  the  outside  of  their  vpper- 
most  garment,  in  the  most  emenent  place  thereof.'  "58 

"  The  culprit  is  to  be  l  publickly  set  on  the  Gallows  in 
the  Day  Time,  with  a  Rope  about  his  or  her  Neck,  for 
the  Space  of  One  Hour:  and  on  his  or  her  Return  from 
the  Gallows  to  the  Gaol,  shall  be  publickly  whipped  on 
his  or  her  naked  Back,  not  exceeding  Thirty  Stripes, 
and  shall  stand  committed  to  the  Gaol  of  the  County 
wherein  convicted,  until  he  or  she  shall  pay  all  Costs  of 
Prosecution."59 

11  Mary  Shaw  the  wife  of  Benjamin  Shaw,  .  .  .  being 
presented  for  having  a  child  in  September  last,  about 
five  Months  after  Marriage,  appeared  and  owned  the 
same.  .  .  .  Ordered  that  (she)  .  .  .  pay  a  fine  of  Forty 
Shillings.  .  .  .  Costs  .  .  .  standing  committed."60 

"  Under  the  '  seven  months  rule/  the  culpable  parents 
were  forced  to  humble  themselves  before  the  whole 

18  History  of  Matrimonial  Institution*.  Vol.  II,  p.  170. 
"Ibid.,  p.  172. 
•o/6id.,p.  187. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Marriage  283 

congregation,  or  else  expose  their  innocent  child  to  the 
danger  of  eternal  perdition."61 

Many  other  examples  of  severe  punishment  to  both 
husband  and  wife  because  of  the  birth  of  a  child  before  a 
sufficient  term  of  wedlock  had  passed  might  be  pre 
sented,  and,  judging  from  the  frequency  of  the  notices 
and  comments  on  the  subject,  such  social  irregularities 
must  have  been  altogether  too  common.  Probably  one 
of  the  reasons  for  this  was  the  curious  and  certainly 
outrageous  custom  known  as  "bundling."  Irving 
mentions  it  in  his  Knickerbocker  History  of  New  York, 
but  the  custom  was  by  no  means  limited  to  the  small 
Dutch  colony.  It  was  practiced  in  Pennsylvania  and 
Connecticut  and  about  Cape  Cod.  Of  all  the  immoral 
acts  sanctioned  by  conventional  opinion  of  any  time  this 
was  the  worst. 

The  night  following  the  drawing  of  the  formal  con 
tract  in  which  the  dowry  and  other  financial  require 
ments  were  adjusted,  the  couple  were  allowed  to  retire 
to  the  same  bed  without,  however,  removing  their 
clothes.  There  have  been  efforts  to  excuse  or  explain 
this  act  on  the  grounds  that  it  was  at  first  simply  an 
innocent  custom  allowed  by  a  simple-minded  people 
living  under  very  primitive  conditions.  Houses  were 
small,  there  was  but  one  living  room,  sometimes  but  one 
general  bed-room,  poverty  restricted  the  use  of  candles 
to  genuine  necessity,  and  the  lovers  had  but  little  op 
portunity  to  meet  alone.  All  this  may  have  been  true, 
but  the  custom  led  to  deplorable  results.  Where  it 
originated  is  uncertain.  The  people  of  Connecticut 
insisted  that  it  was  brought  to  them  from  Cape  Cod  and 

11  Ibid.,  p.  196. 


284  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

from  the  Dutch  of  New  York  City,  and,  in  return,  the 
Dutch  declared  it  began  near  Cape  Cod.  The  idea 
seems  monstrous  to  us  of  to-day;  but  in  colonial  times 
it  was  looked  upon  with  much  leniency,  and  adultery 
between  espoused  persons  was  punished  much  more 
lightly  than  the  same  crime  between  persons  not  engaged. 

A  peculiar  phase  of  immorality  among  colonial  women 
of  the  South  cannot  well  be  ignored.  As  mentioned  in 
earlier  pages,  there  was  naturally  a  rough  element  among 
the  indented  women  imported  into  Virginia  and  South 
Carolina,  and,  strange  to  say,  not  a  few  of  these  women 
were  attracted  into  sexual  relations  with  the  negro  slaves 
of  the  plantation.  If  these  slaves  had  been  mulattoes 
instead  of  genuinely  black,  half-savage  beings  not  long 
removed  from  Africa,  or  if  the  relation  had  been  between 
an  indented  white  man  of  low  rank  and  a  negro  woman, 
there  would  not  have  been  so  great  cause  for  wonder; 
but  we  cannot  altogether  agree  with  Bruce,  who  in  his 
study,  The  Economic  History  of  Virginia  in  the  Seven 
teenth  Century,  says: 

"It  is  no  ground  for  surprise  that  in  the  seventeenth 
century  there  were  instances  of  criminal  intimacy 
between  white  women  and  negroes.  Many  of  the  former 
had  only  recently  arrived  from  England,  and  were, 
therefore,  comparatively  free  from  the  race  prejudice 
that  was  so  likely  to  develop  upon  close  association  with 
the  African  for  a  great  length  of  time.  The  class  of 
white  women  who  were  required  to  work  in  the  fields 
belonged  to  the  lowest  rank  in  point  of  character.  Not 
having  been  born  in  Virginia  and  not  having  thus 
acquired  from  birth  a  repugnance  to  association  with  the 
Africans  upon  a  footing  of  social  equality,  they  yielded 


Colonial  Woman  and  Marriage  285 

to  the  temptations  of  the  situations  in  which  they  were 
placed.  The  offence,  whether  committed  by  a  native 
or  an  imported  white  woman,  was  an  act  of  personal 
degradation  that  was  condemned  by  public  sentiment 
with  as  much  severity  in  the  seventeenth  century  as  at 
all  subsequent  periods.  .  .  ,"62 

Near  the  populous  centers  such  relationships  were 
sure  to  meet  with  swift  punishment;  but  in  the  more 
remote  districts  such  a  custom  might  exist  for  years  and 
mean  nothing  less  than  profit  to  the  master  of  the  planta 
tion;  for  the  child  of  negro  blood  might  easily  be  claimed 
as  the  slave  son  of  a  slave  father.  Bruce  explains 
clearly  the  attitude  of  the  better  classes  in  Virginia 
toward  this  mixture  of  races: 

"  A  certain  degree  of  liberty  in  the  sexual  relations  of 
the  female  servants  with  the  male,  and  even  with  their 
master,  might  have  been  expected,  but  there  are  numer 
ous  indications  that  the  general  sentiment  of  the  Colony 
condemned  it,  and  sought  by  appropriate  legislation  to 
restrain  and  prevent  it. 

"  .  .  .  If  a  woman  gave  birth  to  a  bastard,  the  sheriff, 
as  soon  as  he  learned  of  the  fact  was  required  to  arrest 
her,  and  whip  her  on  the  bare  back  until  the  blood  came. 
Being  turned  over  to  her  master,  she  was  compelled  to 
pay  two  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco,  or  to  remain  in  his 
employment  two  years  after  the  termination  of  her 
indentures. 

"  If  the  bastard  child  to  which  the  female  servant  gave 
birth  was  the  offspring  of  a  negro  father,  she  was  whipped 
unless  the  usual  fine  was  paid,  and  immediately  upon  the 
expiration  of  her  term  was  sold  by  the  wardens  of  the 

"Vol.  I,  p.  111. 


286  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

nearest  church  for  a  period  of  five  years.  .  .  .  The  child 
was  bound  out  until  his  or  her  thirtieth  year  had  been 
reached."63 

The  determined  effort  to  prevent  any  such  unions 
between  blacks  and  whites  may  be  seen  in  the  Virginia 
law  of  1691  which  declared  that  any  white  woman 
marrying  a  negro  or  mulatto,  bond  or  free,  should  suffer 
perpetual  banishment.  But  at  no  time  in  the  South 
was  adultery  of  any  sort  punished  with  such  almost 
fiendish  cruelty  as  in  New  England,  except  in  one  known 
instance  when  a  Virginia  woman  was  punished  by  being 
dragged  through  the  water  behind  a  swiftly  moving 
boat. 

The  social  evil  is  apparently  as  old  as  civilization,  and 
no  country  seems  able  to  escape  its  blighting  influence. 
Even  the  Puritan  colonies  had  to  contend  with  it.  In 
1638  Josselyn,  writing  of  New  England  said:  "  There 
are  many  strange  women  too  (in  Solomon's  sense,"). 
Phoebe  Kelly,  the  mother  of  Madam  Jumel,  second  wife 
of  Aaron  Burr,  made  her  living  as  a  prostitute,  and  was 
at  least  twice  (1772  and  1785)  driven  from  disorderly 
resorts  at  Providence,  and  for  the  second  offense  was 
imprisoned.  Ben  Franklin  frequently  speaks  of  such 
women  and  of  such  haunts  in  Philadelphia,  and,  with 
characteristic  indifference,  makes  no  serious  objection 
to  them.  All  in  all,  in  spite  of  strong  hostile  influence, 
such  as  Puritanism  in  New  England,  Quakerism  in  the 
Middle  Colonies,  and  the  desire  for  untainted  aristocratic 
blood  in  the  South,  the  evil  progressed  nevertheless,  and 
was  found  in  practically  every  city  throughout  the 
colonies. 

M  Economic  History  of  Virginia  in  the  Seventeenth  Century,  Vol.  I,  p.  34. 


Colonial   Woman  and  Marriage  287 

Among  men  there  may  not  have  been  any  more  im 
morality  than  at  present,  but  certainly  there  was  much 
more  freedom  of  action  along  this  line  and  apparently 
much  less  shame  over  the  revelations  of  lax  living. 
Men  prominent  in  public  life  were  not  infrequently 
accused  of  intrigues  with  women,  or  even  known  to  be 
the  fathers  of  illegitimate  children;  their  wives,  families, 
and  friends  were  aware  of  it,  and  yet,  as  we  look  at  the 
comments  made  at  that  day,  such  affairs  seem  to  have 
been  taken  too  much  as  a  matter  of  course.  Benjamin 
Franklin  was  the  father  of  an  illegitimate  son,  whom  he 
brought  into  his  home  and  whom  his  wife  consented  to 
rear.  It  was  a  matter  of  common  talk  throughout 
Virginia  that  Jefferson  had  had  at  least  one  son  by  a 
negro  slave.  Alexander  Hamilton  at  a  time  when  his 
children  were  almost  grown  up  was  connected  with  a 
woman  in  a  most  wretched  scandal,  which,  while 
provoking  some  rather  violent  talk,  did  not  create  the 
storm  that  a  similar  irregularity  on  the  part  of  a  great 
public  man  would  now  cause.  Undoubtedly  the 
women  of  colonial  days  were  too  lenient  in  their  views 
concerning  man's  weakness,  and  naturally  men  took 
full  advantage  of  such  easy  forgiveness. 

XIV.  Violent  Speech  and  Action 
In  general,  however,  offenses  of  any  other  kind,  even 
of  the  most  trivial  nature,  were  given  much  more  notice 
than  at  present;  indeed,  wrong  doers  were  dragged  into 
the  lime-light  for  petty  matters  that  we  of  to-day  would 
consider  too  insignificant  or  too  private  to  deserve  public 
attention.  The  English  laws  of  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  century  were  exceedingly  severe;  but  where 


288  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

these  failed  to  provide  for  irregular  conduct,  the  Ameri 
can  colonists  readily  created  additional  statutes.  We 
have  seen  the  legal  attitude  of  early  America  toward 
witchcraft;  gossip,  slander,  tale-bearing,  and  rebellious 
speeches  were  coped  with  just  as  confidently.  The  last 
mentioned  "  crime,"  rebellious  speech,  seems  to  have 
been  rather  common  in  later  New  England  where  women 
frequently  spoke  against  the  authority  of  the  church. 
Their  speech  may  not  have  been  genuinely  rebellious, 
but  the  watchful  Puritans  took  no  chance  in  matters  of 
possible  heresy.  Thus,  Winthrop  tells  us:  "  The  lady 
Moodye,  a  wise  and  anciently  religious  woman,  being 
taken  with  the  error  of  denying  baptism  to  infants,  was 
dealt  withal  by  many  of  the  elders,  and  others,  and 
admonished  by  the  church  of  Salem,  .  .  .  but  persist 
ing  still,  and  to  avoid  further  trouble,  etc.,  she  removed 
to  the  Dutch  against  the  advice  of  all  her  friends.  .  .  . 
She  was  after  excommunicated."64 

Sometimes,  too,  the  supposedly  meek  character  of  the 
colonial  woman  took  a  rather  Amazonian  turn,  and  the 
court  records,  diaries,  and  chronicles  present  case  after 
case  in  which  wives  made  life  for  their  husbands  more  of 
a  battle  cry  than  one  gladsome  song.  Surely  the  follow 
ing  citations  prove  that  some  colonial  dames  had  opinions 
of  their  own  and  strong  fists  with  which  to  back  up  their 
opinions : 

"  Joan,  wife  of  Obadiah  Miller  of  Taunton,  was  pre 
sented  for  '  beating  and  reviling  her  husband,  and  egging 
her  children  to  healp  her,  bidding  them  knock  him  in  the 
head,  and  wishing  his  victuals  might  choake  him/  "fi5 

•«  History  of  New  England,  Vol.  II,  p.  148. 

64  Howard:    Matrimonial  Inst.,  Vol.  II,  p.  161. 


Colonial  Woman  and  Marriage  289 

"  In  1637  in  Salem,  '  Whereas  Dorothy  the  wyfe  of 
John  Talbie  hath  not  only  broak  that  peace  &  loue, 
wch  ought  to  hauve  beene  both  betwixt  them,  but  also 
hath  violentlie  broke  the  king's  peace,  by  frequent 
laying  hands  upon  hir  husband  to  the  danger  of  his 
Life.  ...  It  is  therefore  ordered  that  for  hir  misde- 
meaner  passed  &  for  prvention  of  future  evills  .  .  . 
that  she  shall  be  bound  &  chained  to  some  post  where 
shee  shall  be  restrained  of  her  libertye  to  goe  abroad 
or  comminge  to  hir  husband,  till  shee  manefest  some 
change  of  hir  course.  .  .  .  Only  it  is  permitted  that  shee 
shall  come  to  the  place  of  gods  worshipp,  to  enjoy  his 
ordenances.'  "65 

Women  also  could  appeal  to  the  strong  arm  of  the  law 
against  the  wrath  of  their  loving  husbands:  "  In  1638 
John  Emerson  of  Scituate  was  tried  before  the  general 
court  for  abusing  his  wife;  the  same  year  for  beating  his 
wife,  Henry  Seawall  was  sent  for  examination  before  the 
court  at  Ipswich;  and  in  1663,  Ensigne  John  Williams, 
of  Barnstable,  was  fined  by  the  Plymouth  court  for 
slandering  his  wife."66 

Josselyn  records  that  in  New  England  in  1638,  "Scolds 
they  gag  and  set  them  at  their  doors  for  certain  hours, 
for  all  comers  and  goers  by  to  gaze  at.  .  .  ." 

In  Virginia:  "  A  wife  convicted  of  slander  was  to  be 
carried  to  the  ducking  stool  to  be  ducked  unless  her 
husband  would  consent  to  pay  the  fine  imposed  by  law 
for  the  offense.  .  .  .  Some  years  after  (1646)  a  woman 
residing  in  Northampton  was  punished  for  defamation 
by  being  condemned  to  stand  at  the  door  of  her  parish 

«  Howard:  Matrimonial  Inst.,  Vol.  II,  p.  161. 
"  Ibid. 


290  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

church,  during  the  singing  of  the  psalm,  with  a  gag  in 
her  mouth.  .  .  .  Deborah  Heighram  .  .  .  was,  in  1654, 
not  only  required  to  ask  pardon  of  the  person  she  had 
slandered,  but  was  mulcted  to  the  extent  of  two  thousand 
pounds  of  tobacco.  Alice  Spencer,  for  the  same  offence, 
was  ordered  to  go  to  Mrs.  Frances  Yeardley's  house  and 
beg  forgiveness  of  her;  whilst  Edward  Hall,  who  had 
also  slandered  Mrs.  Yeardley,  was  compelled  to  pay  five 
thousand  pounds  of  tobacco  for  the  county's  use,  and  to 
acknowledge  in  court  that  he  had  spoken  falsely."67 

The  mere  fact  that  a  woman  was  a  woman  seems  in 
no  wise  to  have  caused  merciful  discrimination  among 
early  colonists  as  to  the  manner  of  punishment.  Appar 
ently  she  was  treated  certainly  not  better  and  perhaps 
sometimes  worse  than  the  man  if  she  committed  an 
offense.  In  the  matter  of  adultery  she  indeed  frequently 
received  the  penalty  which  her  partner  in  sin  totally 
escaped.  In  short,  chivalry  was  not  allowed  to  interfere 
in  the  least  with  old-time  justice.  / 

•7  Bruce:  Institutional  History,  Vol.  I,  p.  51. 


CHAPTER  VII 
COLONIAL  WOMAN  AND  THE  INITIATIVE 

/.     Religious  Initiative 

Throughout  our  entire  study  of  colonial  woman  we 
have  seen  many  bits  of  record  that  hint  or  even  plainly 
prove  that  the  feminine  nature  was  no  more  willing  in 
the  old  days  constantly  to  play  second  riddle  than  in  our 
own  day.  Anne  Hutchinson  and  her  kind  had  brains, 
knew  it,  and  were  disposed  to  use  their  intellect.  Per 
ceiving  injustice  in  the  prevailing  order  of  affairs,  such 
women  protested  against  it,  and,  when  forced  to  do  so, 
undertook  those  tasks  and  battles  which  are  popularly 
supposed  to  be  outside  woman's  sphere.  Of  Anne 
Hutchinson  it  has  been  truthfully  said:  "  The  Massa 
chusetts  records  say  that  Mrs.  Anne  Hutchinson  was 
banished  on  account  of  her  revelations  and  excommuni 
cated  for  a  lie.  They  do  not  say  that  she  was  too  bril 
liant,  too  ambitious,  and  too  progressive  for  the  ministers 
and  magistrates  of  the  colony,  .  .  .  And  while  it  is 
only  fair  to  the  rulers  of  the  colony  to  admit  that  any 
element  of  disturbance  or  sedition,  at  that  time,  was  a 
menace  to  the  welfare  of  the  colony,  and  that  .  .  . 
her  voluble  tongue  was  a  dangerous  one,  it  is  certain 
that  the  ministers  were  jealous  of  her  power  and  feared 
her  leadership."1 

1  Brooks:   Dames  and  Daughters  of  Colonial  Days,  p.  26. 


292  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

One  of  the  earliest  examples  in  colonial  times  of 
woman's  ignoring  traditions  and  taking  the  initiative 
in  dangerous  work  may  be  found  in  the  daring  invasion 
of  Massachusetts  by  Quaker  women  to  preach  their 
belief.  Sewall  makes  mention  of  seeing  such  strange 
missionaries  in  the  land  of  the  saints:  "July  8,  1677. 
New  Meeting  House  (the  third,  or  South)  Mane:  In 
Sermon  time  there  came  in  a  female  Quaker,  in  a  Canvas 
Frock,  her  hair  disshevelled  and  loose  like  a  Periwigg, 
her  face  as  black  as  ink,  led  by  two  other  Quakers,  and 
two  others  followed.  It  occasioned  the  greatest  and 
most  amazing  uproar  that  I  ever  saw."2  No  doubt 
some  of  these  female  exhorters  acted  outlandishly  and 
caused  genuine  fear  among  the  good  Puritan  elders  for 
the  safety  of  the  colonies  and  the  morals  of  the  inhabi 
tants. 

Those  were  troubled  times.  Indeed,  between  Anne 
Hutchinson  and  the  Quakers,  the  Puritans  of  the  day 
were  harrassed  to  distraction.  Mary  Dyer,  for  example, 
one  of  the  followers  of  Anne  Hutchinson,  repeatedly 
driven  from  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony,  returned 
just  as  often,  even  after  being  warned  that  if  she  came 
back  she  would  be  executed.  Once  she  was  sentenced 
to  death  and  was  saved  only  by  the  intercession  of  her 
husband;  but,  having  returned,  she  was  again  sentenced, 
and  this  time  put  to  death.  The  Quakers  were  whipped, 
disfigured  by  having  their  ears  and  nose  cut  off,  banished, 
or  even  put  to  death;  but  fresh  recruits,  especially 
women,  adorned  in  "  sack  cloth  and  ashes  "  and  doing 
"  unseemly  "  things,  constantly  took  the  place  of  those 
who  were  maimed  or  killed.  Why  they  should  so  per- 

«  Diary:  Vol.  I,  p.  43. 


Colonial  Woman  and  the  Initiative  293 

sistently  have  invaded  the  Puritan  territory  has  been  a 
source  of  considerable  questioning;  but  probably  Fiske 
is  correct  when  he  says:  "  The  reasons  for  the  persistent 
idea  of  the  Quakers  that  they  must  live  in  Massachu 
setts  was  largely  because,  though  tolerant  of  differences 
in  doctrine,  yet  Quakerism  had  freed  itself  from  Judaism 
as  far  as  possible,  while  Puritanism  was  steeped  in 
Judaism.  The  former  attempted  to  separate  church 
and  state,  while  under  the  latter  belief  the  two  were 
synonimous.  Therefore,  the  Quaker  considered  it  his 
mission  to  overthrow  the  Puritan  theocracy,  and  thus 
we  find  them  insisting  on  returning,  though  it  meant 
death.  It  was  a  sacred  duty,  and  it  is  to  the  glory  of 
religious  liberty  that  they  succeeded."3 

//.     Commercial  Initiative 

More  might  be  said  of  the  initiative  spirit  in  religion, 
of  at  least  a  percentage  of  the  colonial  women,  but  the 
statements  above  should  be  sufficient  to  prove  that 
religious  affairs  were  not  wholly  left  to  the  guidance  of 
men.  And  what  of  women's  originality  and  daring  in 
other  fields  of  activity?  The  indications  are  that  they 
even  ventured,  and  that  successfully,  to  dabble  in  the 
affairs  of  state.  Sewall  mentions  that  the  women  were 
even  urged  by  the  men  to  expostulate  with  the  governor 
about  his  plans  for  attending  a  certain  meeting  house  at 
certain  hours,  and  that  after  the  good  sisters  had  thus 
paved  the  way  a  delegation  of  men  went  to  his  Excel 
lency,  and  obtained  a  change  in  his  plan.  Thus,  the 
women  did  the  work,  and  the  men  usurped  the  praise. 
Again,  Lady  Phips,  wife  of  the  governor,  had  the  bravery 

»  Dutch  and  Quaker  Colonies  in  America,  Vol.  I,  p.  112. 


294  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

to  assume  the  responsibility  of  signing  a  warrant  liberat 
ing  a  prisoner  accused  of  witchcraft,  and,  though  the 
jailor  lost  his  position  for  obeying,  the  prisoner's  life 
was  thus  saved  by  the  initiative  of  a  woman. 

That  colonial  women  frequently  attempted  to  make  a 
livelihood  by  methods  other  than  keeping  a  dame  school, 
is  shown  in  numerous  diaries  and  records.  Sewall 
records  the  failure  of  one  of  these  attempts:  "  April  4, 
JL&S&  .  .  .  This  day  Mrs.  Avery's  Shop  .  .  .  shut  by 
reason  of  Goods  in  them  attached."4  Women  kept 
ordinaries  and  taverns,  especially  in  New  England,  and 
after  1760  a  large  number  of  the  retail  dry  goods  stores 
of  Baltimore  were  owned  and  managed  by  women. 
We  have  noticed  elsewhere  Franklin's  complimentary 
statement  about  the  Philadelphia  woman  who  con 
ducted  her  husband's  printing  business  after  his  death; 
and  again  in  a  letter  to  his  wife,  May  27,  1757,  just  before 
a  trip  to  Europe,  he  writes:  "  Mr.  Golden  could  not 
spare  his  Daughter,  as  she  helps  him  in  the  Postoffice, 
he  having  no  Clerk."5  Mrs.  Franklin,  herself,  was  a 
woman  of  considerable  business  ability,  and  successfully 
ran  her  husband's  printing  and  trading  affairs  during  his 
prolonged  absences.  He  sometimes  mentions  in  his 
letters  her  transactions  amounting  at  various  times  to  as 
much  as  £500. 

The  pay  given  to  teachers  of  dame  schools  was  so 
miserably  low  that  it  is  a  marvel  that  the  widows  and 
elderly  spinsters  who  maintained  these  institutions  could 
keep  body  and  soul  together  on  such  fees.  We  know 
that  Boston  women  sometimes  taught  for  less  than  a 

«  Diary:  Vol.  I.  p.  317. 

•  Smyth:    Writings  of  B.  Franklin,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  395. 


Colonial   Woman  and  the  Initiative  295 

shilling  per  day,  while  even  those  ladies  who  took  chil 
dren  from  the  South  and  the  West  Indies  into  their 
homes  and  both  boarded  and  trained  them  dared  not 
charge  much  above  the  actual  living  expenses.  Had  not 
public  sentiment  been  against  it,  doubtless  many  of 
these  teachers  would  have  engaged  in  the  more  lucrative 
work  of  keeping  shops  or  inns. 

In  the  South  it  seems  to  have  been  no  uncommon 
thing  for  women  to  manage  large  plantations  and  direct 
the  labor  of  scores  of  negroes  and  white  workers.  We 
have  seen  how  Eliza  Pinckney  found  a  real  interest  in 
such  work,  and  cared  most  successfully  for  her  father's 
thousands  of  acres.  A  woman  of  remarkable  person 
ality,  executive  ability,  and  mental  capacity,  she  not 
only  produced  and  traded  according  to  the  usual  methods 
of  planters,  but  experimented  in  intensive  farming, 
grafting,  and  improvement  of  stock  and  seed  with  such 
success  that  her  plantations  were  models  for  the  neigh 
boring  planters  to  admire  and  imitate. 

When  she  was  left  in  charge  of  the  estate  while  her 
father  went  about  his  army  duties,  she  was  but  sixteen 
years  old,  and  yet  her  letters  to  him  show  not  only  her 
interest,  but  a  remarkable  grasp  of  both  the  theoretical 
and  the  practical  phases  of  agriculture. 

"  I  wrote  my  father  a  very  long  letter  ...  on  the 
pains  I  had  taken  to  bring  the  Indigo,  Ginger,  Cotton, 
Lucern,  and  Cassada  to  perfection,  and  had  greater 
hopes  from  the  Indigo.  .  .  ." 

To  her  father:  "  The  Cotton,  Guiney  corn  and  most  of 
the  Ginger  planted  here  was  cutt  off  by  a  frost. 

"  I  wrote  you  in  former  letters  we  had  a  fine  crop  of 
Indigo  Seed  upon  the  ground  and  since  informed  you 


296  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

the  frost  took  it  before  it  was  dry.  I  picked  out  the 
best  of  it  and  had  it  planted  but  there  is  not  more  than 
a  hundred  bushes  of  it  come  up,  which  proves  the  more 
unlucky  as  you  have  sent  a  man  to  make  it." 

In  a  letter  to  a  friend  she  indicates  how  busy  she  is: 
"  In  genl  I  rise  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning,  read  till 
seven  —  then  take  a  walk  in  the  garden  or  fields,  see  that 
the  Servants  are  at  their  respective  business,  then  to 
breakfast.  The  first  hour  after  breakfast  is  spent  in 
musick,  the  next  is  constantly  employed  in  recolecting 
something  I  have  learned,  .  .  .  such  as  french  and 
shorthand.  After  that  I  devote  the  rest  of  the  time  till 
I  dress  for  dinner,  to  our  little  Polly,  and  two  black  girls, 
who  I  teach  to  read.  .  .  .  The  first  hour  after  dinner, 
as  ...  after  breakfast,  at  musick,  the  rest  of  the  after 
noon  in  needlework  till  candle  light,  and  from  that  time 
to  bed  time  read  or  write;  .  .  .  Thursday,  the  whole 
day  except  what  the  necessary  affairs  of  the  family  take 
up,  is  spent  in  writing,  either  on  the  business  of  the 
plantations  or  on  letters  to  my  friends.  .  .  ."6 

And  yet  this  mere  girl  found  time  to  devote  to  the 
general  conventional  activities  of  women.  After  her 
marriage  she  seems  to  have  gained  her  greatest  pleasure 
from  her  devotion  to  her  household ;  but,  left  a  widow  at 
thirty-six,  she  once  more  was  forced  to  undertake  the 
management  of  a  great  plantation.  The  same  executive 
genius  again  appeared,  and  an  initiative  certainly  sur 
passing  that  of  her  neighbors.  She  introduced  into 
South  Carolina  the  cultivation  of  Indigo,  and  through 
her  foresight  and  efforts  "  it  continued  the  chief  highland 
staple  of  the  country  for  more  than  thirty  years.  .  .  . 

1  Ravenel:  Eliza  Pinckney,  pp.  7,  9,  30. 


Colonial  Woman  and  the  Initiative  297 

Just  before  the  Revolution  the  annual  export  amounted 
to  the  enormous  quantity  of  one  million,  one  hundred 
and  seven  thousand,  six  hundred  and  sixty  pounds. 
When  will  '  New  Woman  '  do  more  for  her  country?  "7 
/Martha  Washington  was  another  of  the  colonial 
women  who  showed  not  only  tact  but  considerable  talent 
in  conducting  personally  the  affairs  of  her  large  estate 
between  the  death  of  her  first  husband  and  her  marriage 
to  Washington,  and  when  the  General  went  on  his 
prolonged  absences  to  direct  the  American  army,  she, 
with  some  aid  from  Lund  Washington,  attended  with 
no  small  success  to  the  Mount  Vernon  property. 

III.     Woman's  Legal  Powers 

Just  how  much  legal  power  colonial  women  had  is 
rather  difficult  to  discover  from  the  writings  of  the  day; 
for  each  section  had  its  own  peculiar  rules,  and  courts 
and  decisions  in  the  various  colonies,  and  sometimes  in 
one  colony,  contradicted  one  another.  Until  the  adop 
tion  of  the  Constitution  the  old  English  law  prevailed, 
and  while  unmarried  women  could  make  deeds,  wills, 
and  other  business  transactions,  fhp  wifp's  iHpr>f,ity-nM,g 
largely  merged  into  that  of  her  husband.  The  colonial 
husband  seems  to  have  had  considerable  confidence  in 
his  help-meet's  business  ability,  and  not  infrequently 
left  all  his  property  at  his  death  to  her  care  and  manage 
ment.  Thus,  in  1793  John  Todd  left  to  his  widow,  the 
future  Dolly  Madison,  his  entire  estate: 

"  I  give  and  devise  all  my  estate,  real  and  personal, 
to  the  Dear  Wife  of  my  Bosom,  and  first  and  only  Woman 
upon  whom  my  all  and  only  affections  were  placed, 

7  Ravenel:   E.  Pinckney,  p.  107. 


298  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

Dolly  Payne  Todd,  her  heirs  and  assigns  forever.  .  .  . 
Having  a  great  opinion  of  the  integrity  and  honourable 
conduct  of  Edward  Burd  and  Edward  Tilghman, 
Esquires,  my  dying  request  is  that  they  will  give  such 
advice  and  assistance  to  my  dear  Wife  as  they  shall 
think  prudent  with  respect  to  the  management  and 
disposal  of  my  very  small  Estate.  ...  I  appoint  my 
dear  Wife  excutrix  of  this  my  will.  .  .  ."8 

Samuel  Peters,  writing  in  his  General  History  of 
Connecticut,  1781,  mentions  this  incident:  "  In  1740, 
Mrs.  Cursette,  an  English  lady,  travelling  from  New 
York  to  Boston,  was  obliged  to  stay  some  days  at 
Hebron;  where,  seeing  the  church  not  finished,  and  the 
people  suffering  great  persecutions,  she  told  them  to 
persevere  in  their  good  work,  and  she  would  send  them  a 
present  when  she  got  to  Boston.  Soon  after  her  arrival 
there,  Mrs.  Cursette  fell  sick  and  died.  In  her  will  she 
gave  a  legacy  of  £300  old  tenor  ...  to  the  church  of 
England  in  Hebron;  and  appointed  John  Hancock,  Esq., 
and  Nathaniel  Glover,  her  executors.  Glover  was  also 
her  residuary  legatee.  The  will  was  obliged  to  be  re 
corded  in  Windham  county,  because  some  of  Mrs. 
Cursette's  lands  lay  there.  Glover  sent  the  will  by 

Deacon  S.  H. of  Canterbury,  ordering  him  to  get  it 

recorded  and  keep  it  private,  lest  the  legacy  should  build 
up  the  church.  The  Deacon  and  Register  were  faithful 
to  their  trust,  and  kept  Glover's  secret  twenty-five  years. 
At  length  the  Deacon  was  taken  ill,  and  his  life  was 
supposed  in  great  danger.  .  .  .  The  secret  was  dis 
closed." 

It  is  evident  that  the  colonial  woman,  either  as  spinster 

8  Graham:   Dolly  Madison,  p.  46. 


Colonial  Woman  and  the  Initiative  299 

or  as  widow,  was  not  without  considerable  legal  power 
in  matters  of  property,  and  it  is  evident  too  that  she 
now  and  then  managed  or  disposed  of  such  property 
in  a  manner  displeasing  to  the  other  sex.  As  shown 
in  the  above  incident  of  the  church  money,  trickery 
was  now  and  then  tried  in  an  effort  to  set  aside  the 
wishes  of  a  woman  concerning  her  possessions;  but, 
in  the  main,  her  decisions  and  bequests  seem  to  have 
received  as  much  respect  from  courts  as  those  of  the 
men. 

A  further  instance  of  this  feminine  right  to  hold  and 
manage  property  —  perhaps  a  little  too  radical  to  be 
typical  —  is  to  be  found  in  the  career  of  the  famous 
Margaret  Brent  of  Maryland,  the  first  woman  in  the  world 
to  demand  a  seat  in  the  parliamentary  body  of  a  com 
monwealth.  A  woman  of  unusual  intellect,  decisive 
ness,  and  leadership,  she  came  from  England  to  Maryland 
in  1638,  and  quickly  became  known  as  the  equal,  if  not 
the  superior,  of  any  man  in  the  colony  for  comprehension 
of  the  intricacies  of  English  law  dealing  with  property 
and  decedents.  Her  brothers,  owners  of  great  estates, 
recognized  her  superiority  and  commonly  allowed  her  to 
buy  and  sell  for  them  and  to  sign  herself  "  attorney 
for  my  brother."  Lord  Calvert,  the  Governor,  became 
her  ardent  admirer,  perhaps  her  lover,  and  when  he  lay 
dying  he  called  her  to  his  bedside,  and  in  the  presence 
of  witnesses,  made  perhaps  the  briefest  will  in  the 
history  of  law:  "  I  make  you  my  sole  executrix;  take 
all  and  pay  all."  From  that  hour  her  career  as  a  busi 
ness  woman  was  astonishing.  She  collected  all  of  Cal- 
vert's  rentals  and  other  incomes;  she  paid  all  his  debts; 
she  planted  and  harvested  on  his  estates;  she  even  took 


300  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

charge  of  numerous  state  affairs  of  Maryland,  collected 
and  dispersed  some  portions  of  the  colony's  money,  and 
was  in  many  ways  the  colonial  executive. 

Then  came  on  January  21,  1648,  her  astounding  de 
mand  for  a  vote  in  the  Maryland  Assembly.  Leonard 
Calvert,  as  Lord  Baltimore's  attorney,  had  possessed  a 
vote  in  the  body;  since  Calvert  had  told  her  to  take  all 
and  pay  all,  he  had  granted  her  all  powers  he  had  ever 
possessed;  she  therefore  had  succeeded  him  as  Lord 
Baltimore's  attorney  and  was  possessed  of  the  attorney- 
ship  until  Baltimore  saw  fit  to  appoint  another;  hence, 
as  the  attorney,  she  was  entitled  to  a  seat  and  a  voice  in 
the  Assembly.  Such  was  her  reasoning,  and  when  she 
walked  into  the  Assembly  on  that  January  day  it  was 
evident  from  the  expression  on  her  face  that  she  intended 
to  be  seated  and  to  be  heard.  She  made  a  speech, 
moved  many  of  the  planters  so  greatly  that  they  were 
ready  to  grant  her  the  right;  she  cowed  the  very  acting 
governor  himself,  as  he  sat  on  the  speaker's  bench. 
But  that  governor's  very  fear  of  her  rivalry  made  him, 
for  once,  active  and  determined;  he  had  heard  whispers 
throughout  the  colony  that  she  would  make  a  better 
executive  than  he;  he  suddenly  thundered  a  decisive 
"  No  ";  a  brief  recess  was  declared  amidst  the  ensuing 
confusion;  and  Margaret  Brent  went  forth  for  the  first 
time  in  her  life  a  defeated  woman.  Her  power,  how 
ever,  was  scarcely  lessened,  and  her  influence  grew  to  such 
an  extent  that  on  several  occasions  the  governor  who  had 
I  refused  her  a  vote  was  obliged  to  humiliate  himself  and 
beg  her  aid  in  quieting  or  convincing  the  citizens.  The 
story  of  her  life  leads  one  to  believe  that  many  women, 
if  opportunity  had  offered,  would  have  proved  them- 


Colonial   Woman  and  the  Initiative  301 

selves  just  as  capable  in  business  affairs  as  any  woman 
executive  of  our  own  times. 

Many  another  example  of  feminine  initiative  might  be 
cited.  There  was  that  serious,  yet  ridiculous  scene  of 
long  ago  when  the  women  of  Boston  pinned  up  their 
dresses,  took  off  their  shoes,  and  waded  about  in  the  mud 
and  slush  fortifying  Boston  Neck.  Benjamin  Tompson, 
a  local  poet,  found  the  incident  a  source  of  merriment  in 
his  New  England's  Crisis,  1675;  but  in  a  way  it  was  a 
stern  rebuke  to  the  men  who  looked  on  and  laughed  at 
the  women's  frantic  effort  to  wield  mud  plaster. 

"  A  grand  attempt  some  Amazonian  Dames 
Contrive  whereby  to  glorify  their  names. 
A  ruff  for  Boston  Neck  of  mud  and  turfe, 
Reaching  from  side  to  side,  from  surf  to  surf, 
Their  nimble  hands  spin  up  like  Christmas  pyes, 
Their  pastry  by  degrees  on  high  doth  rise  .  .  . 
The  wheel  at  home  counts  in  an  holiday, 
Since  while  the  mistress  worketh  it  may  play. 
A  tribe  of  female  hands,  but  manly  hearts, 
Forsake  at  home  their  pastry  crust  and  tarts, 
To  kneed  the  dirt,  the  samplers  down  they  hurl, 
Their  undulating  silks  they  closely  furl. 
The  pick-axe  one  as  a  commandress  holds, 
While  t'other  at  her  awk'ness  gently  scolds. 
One  puffs  and  sweats,  the  other  mutters  why 
Can't  you  promove  your  work  so  fast  as  I? 
Some  dig,  some  delve,  and  others'  hands  do  feel 
The  little  wagon's  weight  with  single  wheel. 
And  lest  some  fainting-fits  the  weak  surprize, 
They  want  no  sack  nor  cakes,  they  are  more  wise  .  .  ." 

That  simple-hearted,  kindly  French-American,  St. 
John  de  Crevecoeur,  has  left  us  a  description  of  the 
women  of  Nantucket  in  his  Letters  from  an  American 


302  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

Farmer,  1782,  and  if  his  account  is  trustworthy  these 
women  displayed  business  capacity  that  might  put  to 
shame  many  a  modern  wife.  Hear  some  extracts  from 
his  statement: 

"  As  the  sea  excursions  are  often  very  long,  their 
wives  in  their  absence  are  necessarily  obliged  to  transact 
business,  to  settle  accounts,  and,  in  short,  to  rule  and 
provide  for  their  families.  These  circumstances,  being 
often  repeated,  give  women  the  abilities  as  well  as  a 
taste  for  that  kind  of  superintendency  to  which,  by  their 
prudence  and  good  management,  they  seem  to  be  in 
general  very  equal.  This  employment  ripens  their 
judgment,  and  justly  entitles  them  to  a  rank  superior 
to  that  of  other  wives;  .  .  .  The  men  at  their  return, 
weary  with  the  fatigues  of  the  sea,  .  .  .  cheerfully  give 
their  consent  to  every  transaction  that  has  happened 
during  their  absence,  and  all  is  joy  and  peace.  '  Wife, 
thee  hast  done  well/  is  the  general  approbation  they 
receive,  for  their  application  and  industry.  .  .  ." 

".  .  .  But  you  must  not  imagine  from  this  account 
that  the  Nantucket  wives  are  turbulent,  of  high  temper, 
and  difficult  to  be  ruled;  on  the  contrary,  the  wives  of 
Sherburn,  in  so  doing,  comply  only  with  the  prevailing 
custom  of  the  island:  the  husbands,  equally  submissive 
to  the  ancient  and  respectable  manners  of  their  country, 
submit,  without  ever  suspecting  that  there  can  be  any 
impropriety.  .  .  .  The  richest  person  now  in  the  island 
owes  all  his  present  prosperity  and  success  to  the  ingenu 
ity  of  his  wife:  ...  for  while  he  was  performing  his 
first  cruises,  she  traded  with  pins  and  needles,  and  kept 
a  school.  Afterward  she  purchased  more  considerable 
articles,  which  she  sold  with  so  much  judgment,  that  she 


Colonial   Woman  and  the  Initiative  303 

laid  the  foundation  of  a  system  of  business,  that  she 
has  ever  since  prosecuted  with  equal  dexterity  and 
success.  .  .  ." 

IV.  Patriotic  Initiative  and  Courage 
It  was  in  the  dark  days  of  the  Revolution  that  these 
stronger  qualities  of  the  feminine  soul  shone  forth,  and 
served  most  happily  the  struggling  nation.  Long  years 
of  Indian  warfare  and  battling  against  a  stubborn  wilder 
ness  had  strengthened  the  spirit  of  the  American  woman, 
and  when  the  men  marched  away  to  defend  the  land 
their  undaunted  wives  and  daughters  bravely  took  up 
the  masculine  labors,  tilling  and  reaping,  directing  the 
slaves,  maintaining  ship  and  factory,  and  supplying  the 
armies  with  the  necessities  of  life.  The  letters  written 
by  the  women  in  that  period  reveal  an  intelligent  grasp 
of  affairs  and  a  strength  of  sp  rit  altogether  admirable. 
Here  was  indeed  a  charming  mingling  of  feminine  grace, 
tenderness,  sympathy,  self-reliance,  and  common  sense. 
It  required  genuine  courage  to  remain  at  home,  often 
with  no  masculine  protection  whatever,  with  the  ever- 
present  danger  of  Indian  raids,  and  there,  with  the  little 
ones,  wait  and  wait,  hearing  news  only  at  long  intervals, 
fearing  even  to  receive  it  then  lest  it  announce  the  death 
of  the  loved  ones.  No  telegraph,  no  railroad,  no  postal 
service,  no  newspaper  might  offer  relief,  only  the  letter 
brought  by  some  friend,  or  the  bit  of  news  told  by  some 
passing  traveller.  It  was  a  time  of  agonizing  anxiety. 
There  were  months  when  the  wife  heard  nothing;  we 
have  seen  from  the  letters  of  Mrs.  Adams  that  three 
months  sometimes  intervened  between  the  letters  from 
her  husband.  In  1774,  when  John  Adams  was  at  Phila- 


304  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

delphia,  such  a  short  distance  from  Boston,  according  to 
the  modern  conception,  she  wrote:  "  Five  weeks  have 
passed  and  not  one  line  have  I  received.  I  would  rather 
give  a  dollar  for  a  letter  by  the  post,  though  the  conse 
quences  should  be  that  I  ate  but  one  meal  a  day  these 
three  weeks  to  come."9 

Again,  these  women  faced  actual  dangers;  for  they 
were  often  near  the  firing  line.  John  Quincy  Adams 
says  of  his  mother:  "  For  the  space  of  twelve  months 
my  mother  with  her  infant  children  dwelt,  liable  every 
hour  of  the  day  and  the  night  to  be  butchered  in  cold 
blood,  or  taken  and  carried  into  Boston  as  hostages. 
My  mother  lived  in  unintermitted  danger  of  being  con 
sumed  with  them  all  in  a  conflagration  kindled  by  a 
torch  in  the  same  hands  which  on  the  17th  of  June 
[1775]  lighted  the  fires  of  Charlestown.  I  saw  with  my 
own  eyes  those  fires,  and  heard  Britannia's  thunders  in 
the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  and  witnessed  the  tears  of  my 
mother  and  mingled  them  with  my  own." 

In  1777  so  anxious  was  the  mother  for  news  of  her 
husband  that  John  Quincy  became  post-rider  for  her 
between  Braintree  and  Boston,  eleven  miles,  —  not  a 
light  or  easy  task  for  the  nine-year-old  boy,  with  the 
unsettled  roads  and  unsettled  times.  Even  the  Presi 
dent's  wife  was  for  weeks  at  a  time  in  imminent  peril; 
for  the  British  could  have  desired  nothing  better  than  to 
capture  and  hold  as  a  hostage  the  wife  of  the  chief  rebel. 
Washington  himself  was  exceedingly  anxious  about  her, 
and  made  frequent  inquiry  as  to  her  welfare.  She, 
however,  went  about  her  daily  duties  with  the  utmost 
calmness  and  in  the  hours  of  gravest  danger  showed 

•  Letters,  p.  15. 


Colonial  Woman  and  the  Initiative  305 

almost  a  stubborn  disregard  of  the  perils  about  her. 
Washington's  friend,  Mason,  wrote  to  him:  "  I  sent  my 
family  many  miles  back  in  the  country,  and  advised 
Mrs.  Washington  to  do  likewise,  as  a  prudential  move 
ment.  At  first  she  said  '  No;  I  will  not  desert  my  post'; 
but  she  finally  did  so  with  reluctance,  rode  only  a  few 
miles,  and,  plucky  little  woman  as  she  is,  stayed  away 
only  one  night."10 

During  the  first  years  of  the  war  nervous  dread  may 
have  composed  the  greater  part  of  the  suffering  of 
American  women,  but  during  the  later  years  genuine 
hardships,  lack  of  food  and  clothing,  physical  catastro 
phes  befell  these  brave  but  silent  helpers  of  the  patriots. 
Especially  was  this  true  in  the  South,  where  the  British 
overran  the  country,  destroyed  homes,  seized  food, 
cattle,  and  horses,  and  left  devastation  to  mark  the  trail. 
In  1779  Mrs.  Pinckney's  son  wrote  her  that  Provost, 
the  British  leader,  had  destroyed  the  plantation  home 
where  the  family  treasure  had  been  stored,  and  that 
everything  had  been  burned  or  stolen;  but  her  reply 
had  no  wail  of  despair  in  it:  "  My  Dear  Tomm:  I  have 
just  received  your  letter  with  the  account  of  my  losses, 
and  your  almost  ruined  fortunes  by  the  enemy.  A 
severe  blow!  but  I  feel  not  for  myself,  but  for  you. 
.  .  .  Your  Brother's  timely  generous  offer,  to  divide 
what  little  remains  to  him  among  us,  is  worthy  of 
him.  .  .  ."» 

The  financial  distress  of  Mrs.  Pinckney  might  be  cited 
as  typical  of  the  fate  of  many  aristocratic  and  wealthy 
families  of  Virginia  and  South  Carolina.  Owner  of 

10  Wharton:    Martha  Washington,  p.  90. 

11  Ravenel:   Eliza  Pinckney,  p.  265. 


306  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

many  thousands  of  acres  and  a  multitude  of  slaves, 
she  was  reduced  to  such  straits  that  she  could  not  meet 
ordinary  debts.  Shortly  after  the  Revolution  she  wrote 
in  reply  to  a  request  for  payment  of  such  a  bill:  "  I 
am  sorry  I  am  under  a  necessity  to  send  this  unaccom 
panied  with  the  amount  of  my  account  due  to  you.  It 
may  seem  strange  that  a  single  woman,  accused  of  no 
crime,  who  had  a  fortune  to  live  genteely  in  any  part  of 
the  world,  that  fortune  too  in  different  kinds  of  property, 
and  in  four  or  five  different  parts  of  the  country,  should 
be  in  so  short  a  time  so  entirely  deprived  of  it  as  not  to  be 
able  to  pay  a  debt  under  60  pound  sterling,  but  such  is 
my  singular  case.  After  the  many  losses  I  have  met 
with  for  the  last  three  or  four  desolating  years  from  fire 
and  plunder,  both  in  country  and  town,  I  still  had  some 
thing  to  subsist  upon,  but  alas  the  hand  of  power  has 
deprived  me  of  the  greatest  part  of  that,  and  accident 
of  the  rest."12 

It  was  indeed  a  day  that  called  for  the  strongest  type 
of  courage,  and  nobly  did  the  women  face  the  crisis. 
In  the  South  the  wives  and  daughters  of  patriots  were 
forced  to  appear  at  balls  given  by  the  invading  forces, 
to  entertain  British  officers,  to  act  as  hostesses  to  unbid 
den  guests,  and  to  act  the  part  pleasantly,  lest  the 
unscrupulous  enemy  wreak  vengeance  upon  them  and 
their  possessions.  The  constant  search  on  the  part  of 
the  British  for  refugees  brought  these  women  moments 
when  fear  or  even  a  second's  hesitation  would  have 
proved  disastrous.  One  evening  Marion,  the  famous 
"  Swamp-Fox,"  came  worn  out  to  the  home  of  Mrs. 
Horry,  daughter  of  Eliza  Pinckney,  and  so  completely 

u  Ravenel:  Eliza  Pinckney,  p.  301. 


Colonial   Woman  and  the  Initiative  307 

exhausted  was  he  that  he  fell  asleep  in  his  chair  while  she 
was  preparing  him  a  meal.  Suddenly  she  heard  the 
approaching  British.  She  awakened  him,  told  him  to 
follow  the  path  from  her  kitchen  door  to  the  river, 
swim  to  an  island,  and  leave  her  to  deceive  the  soldiers. 
She  then  met  at  the  front  door  the  British  officer 
Tarleton,  who  leisurely  searched  the  house,  ate  the 
supper  prepared  for  Marion,  and  went  away  with  several 
of  the  family  treasures  and  heirlooms.  On  another 
occasion  when  Mrs.  Pinckney  and  her  grand-daughter 
were  sleeping  in  their  plantation  home,  distant  from  any 
neighbor,  they  were  awakened  by  a  beautiful  girl  who 
rushed  into  the  bedroom,  crying,  "  Oh,  Mrs.  Pinckney, 
save  me!  The  British  are  coming  after  me."  With  the 
utmost  calmness  the  old  lady  arose  from  her  bed,  placed 
the  girl  in  her  place,  and  commanded,  "  Lie  there,  and 
no  man  will  dare  to  trouble  you."  She  then  met  the 
pursuers  with  such  quiet  scorn  that  they  shrank  away 
into  the  darkness. 

What  brave  stories  could  be  told  of  other  women  — 
Molly  Stark,  Temperance  Wicke,  and  a  host  of  others. 
What  man,  soldier  or  statesman,  could  have  written 
more  courageous  words  than  these  by  Abigail  Adams? 
"  All  domestic  pleasures  and  enjoyments  are  absorbed 
in  the  great  and  important  duty  you  owe  your  country, 
for  our  country  is,  as  it  were,  a  secondary  god,  and  the 
first  and  greatest  parent.  It  is  to  be  preferred  to  parents, 
wives,  children,  friends  and  all  things,  the  gods  only 
excepted,  for  if  our  country  perishes,  it  is  as  impossible 
to  save  the  individual,  as  to  preserve  one  of  the  fingers 
of  a  mortified  hand."13  Mrs.  Adams  herself  was  literally 

»  Letters,  p.  74. 


308  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

in  the  midst  of  the  warfare,  and  there  were  days  when 
she  could  scarcely  have  faced  more  danger  if  she  had 
been  a  soldier  in  the  battle.  Hear  this  bit  of  descrip 
tion  from  her  own  pen:  "  I  went  to  bed  about  twelve, 
and  rose  again  a  little  after  one.  I  could  no  more  sleep 
than  if  I  had  been  in  the  engagement ;  the  rattling  of  the 
windows,  the  jar  of  the  house,  the  continual  roar  of 
twenty-four  pounders;  and  the  bursting  of  shells  give 
us  such  ideas,  and  realize  a  scene  to  us  of  which  we  could 
form  scarcely  any  conception."14 

Who  can  estimate  the  quiet  aid  such  women  gave  the 
patriots  in  those  years  of  sore  trial?  Such  words  as 
Martha  Washington's  "  I  hope  you  will  all  stand  firm; 
I  know  George  will,"  or  the  ringing  language  of  Abigail 
Adams:  "  Though  I  have  been  called  to  sacrifice  to  my 
country,  I  can  glory  in  my  sacrifice  and  derive  pleasure 
from  my  intimate  connexion  with  one  who  is  esteemed 
worthy  of  the  important  trust  devolved  upon  him  "  — 
such  words  could  but  urge  the  fighting  colonists  to  greater 
deeds  of  heroism.  And  many  of  the  patriot  husbands 
thoroughly  appreciated  the  silent  courage  of  their  wives. 
John  Adams,  thinking  upon  the  years  of  hardships  his 
wife  had  so  cheerfully  undergone,  how  she  had  done  a 
man's  work  on  the  farm,  had  fed  and  clothed  the  chil 
dren,  had  kept  the  home  intact,  while  he  struggled  for  the 
new  nation,  wrote  her:  "  You  are  really  brave,  my  dear. 
You  are  a  heroine  and  you  have  reason  to  be,  for  the 
worst  that  can  happen  can  do  you  no  harm.  A  soul  as 
pure,  as  benevolent,  as  virtuous,  and  pious  as  yours  has 
nothing  to  fear,  but  everything  to  hope  from  the  last  of 
human  evils." 

"  Letters,  p.  9. 


Colonial  Woman  and  the  Initiative          309 

Mercy  Warren,  too,  though  she  might  ridicule  the 
weakness  01  her  sex  in  Woman's  Trifling  Need,  cheer 
fully  remained  alone  and  unprotected  while  her  husband 
went  forth  to  battle;  she  was  even  thoughtful  enough  in 
those  years  of  loneliness  to  keep  a  record  of  the  stirring 
times  —  a  record  which  was  afterwards  embodied  into 
her  History  of  the  Revolution.  Catherine  Schuyler 
was  another  of  those  brave  spirits  that  faced  unflinch 
ingly  the  horrors  of  warfare.  When  a  bride  of  but  one 
week,  she  saw  her  husband  march  away  to  the  Indian 
war,  and  from  girlhood  to  old  age  she  was  familiar  with 
the  meaning  of  carnage.  Shortly  after  the  Battle  of 
Saratoga  the  entire  country  was  aroused  by  the  murder  of 
Jane  McCrea;  women  and  children  fled  to  the  towns; 
refugees  told  of  the  coming  of  a  host  of  British,  Tories, 
and  Indians.  The  Schuyler  home  lay  in  the  path  of  the 
enemy,  and  in  the  mansion  were  family  treasures  and 
heirlooms  dear  to  her  heart.  She  determined  to  save 
these,  and  back  she  hastened  from  town  to  country. 
As  she  pushed  on,  multitudes  of  refugees  begged  her  to 
turn  back;  but  no  appeal,  no  warning  moved  her.  It 
was  mid-summer,  and  the  fields  were  heavy  with  ripe 
grain.  Realizing  that  this  meant  food  for  the  invaders, 
she  resolved  to  burn  all.  When  she  reached  her  home 
she  commanded  a  negro  to  light  torches  and  descended 
with  him  to  the  flats  where  the  great  fields  of  golden 
grain  waved.  The  slave  went  a  little  distance,  but  his 
courage  deserted  him.  "  Very  well,"  she  exclaimed, 
"  if  you  will  not  do  it,  I  must  do  it  myself."  And  with 
that  she  ran  into  the  midst  of  the  waving  stalks,  tossed 
the  flaming  torches  here  and  there,  and  for  a  moment 
watched  the  flames  sweep  through  the  year's  harvest. 


310  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

Then,  hurrying  to  the  house,  she  gathered  up  her  most 
valuable  possessions,  hastened  away  over  the  dangerous 
road,  and  reached  Albany  in  safety. 

Within  a  few  hours  Burgoyne  and  his  officers  were 
making  merry  in  the  great  house,  drinking  the  Schuyler 
wine,  and  on  the  following  day  the  mansion  was  burned 
to  the  ground.  But  fate  played  the  British  leader  a 
curious  trick;  for  within  a  few  days  Burgoyne  found 
himself  defeated  and  a  guest  in  the  Schuyler  home  at 
Albany.  "  I  expressed  my  regret,"  he  has  testified, 
"  at  the  event  which  had  happened  and  the  reasons  which 
had  occasioned  it.  He  [Schuyler]  desired  me  to  think 
no  more  about  it;  said  the  occasion  justified  it,  accord 
ing  to  the  rules  and  principles  of  war,  and  he  should 
have  done  the  same."15 

As  Chastellux  declared:  "  Burgoyne  was  extremely 
well  received  by  Mrs.  Schuyler  and  her  little  family. 
He  was  lodged  in  the  best  apartment  in  the  house.  An 
excellent  supper  was  served  him  in  the  evening,  the 
honors  of  which  were  done  with  so  much  grace  that  he 
was  affected  even  to  tears,  and  could  not  help  saying 
with  a  deep  sigh,  '  Indeed,  this  is  doing  too  much  for  a 
man  who  has  ravished  their  lands  and  burnt  their 
home.'  "16  Indeed,  all  through  his  stay  in  this  house  he 
and  his  staff  of  twenty  were  treated  with  the  utmost 
courtesy  by  Catherine  Schuyler. 

But  was  not  this  characteristic  of  so  many  of  those 
better  class  colonial  women?  The  inherent  delicacy, 
refinement,  and  tact  of  those  dames  of  long  ago  can  be 
equalled  only  by  their  courage,  perseverance,  and  loyalty 

"Humphreys:  Catherine  Schuyler,  p.  159. 
"Humphreys:   Catherine  Schuyler,  p.  162. 


Colonial  Woman  and  the  Initiative  311 

in  the  hour  of  disaster.  Whether  in  war  or  in  peace  they 
could  remain  calm  and  self-possessed,  and  when  given 
opportunity  showed  initiative  power  fully  equalling  that 
of  their  more  famous  husbands.  They  could  be  valiant 
without  losing  refinement;  they  could  bid  defiance  to 
the  enemy  and  yet  retain  all  womanliness. 

Is  it  not  evident  that  woman  was  charmingly  feminine, 
even  in  colonial  days?  Did  she  not  possess  essentially 
the  same  strengths  and  weaknesses  as  she  does  to-day? 
In  general,  accepting  creeds  more  devoutly  than  did  the 
men,  as  is  still  the  case,  often  devouring  greedily  those 
writings  which  she  thought  might  add  to  her  education, 
yet  more  closely  attached  to  her  home  than  most  modern 
women,  the  colonial  dame  frequently  represented  a 
strange  mingling  of  superstition,  culture,  and  delicate 
sensibility.  Possessing  doubtless  a  more  whole-hearted 
reverence  for  man's  ideas  and  opinions  than  does  her 
modern  sister,  she  seems  to  have  kept  her  aspirations  for 
a  broader  sphere  of  activity  under  rather  severe  restraint, 
and  felt  it  her  duty  first  of  all  to  make  the  home  a  refuge 
and  a  consolation  for  the  husband  and  father  who 
returned  in  weariness  from  his  battle  with  the  world. 

She  loved  finery  and  adornment  even  as  she  does  to 
day;  but  under  the  influence  of  a  burning  patriotism  she 
could  and  did  crush  all  such  longings  for  the  beautiful 
things  of  this  world.  She  had  oftentimes  genuine 
capacity  for  initiative  and  leadership;  but  public  senti 
ment  of  the  day  induced  her  to  stand  modestly  in  the 
back-ground  and  allow  the  father,  husband,  or  son  to  do 
the  more  spectacular  work  of  the  world.  Yet  in  the 
hour  of  peril  she  could  bear  unflinchingly  toil,  hardships, 
and  danger,  and  asked  in  return  only  the  love  and  appre*- 


312  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

ciation  of  husband  and  child.  That  she  obtained  such 
love  and  appreciation  cannot  be  doubted.  From  the 
yellow  manuscripts  and  the  faded  satins  and  brocades 
of  those  early  days  comes  the  faint  flavor  of  romances  as 
pathetic  or  happy  as  any  of  our  own  times,  —  quaint, 
old  romances  that  tell  of  love  and  jealousy,  happy  unions 
or  broken  hearts,  triumph  or  defeat  in  the  activities  of  a 
day  that  is  gone.  Surely,  the  soul  —  especially  that  of  a 
woman  —  changes  but  little  in  the  passing  of  the 
centuries. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  following  books  will  be  found  of  exceptional 
interest  and  value  to  readers  who  may  wish  to  look 
further  into  the  subject  of  woman's  life  in  early  America. 

Adams,  A.,  Letters;  Adams,  H.,  Memoir;  Adams,  J.,  Writings; 
Allen,  Woman's  Part  in  Government ;  Alsop,  Character  of  the  Province 
of  Maryland;  American  Nation  Series;  Andrews,  Colonial  Period; 
Anthony,  Past,  Present  and  Future  Status  of  Woman ^<Avery,  History 
of  United  States ;  Beach,  Daughters  of  the  Puritan^; Beard,  Readings 
in  American  Government;  Beverly,  History  of  Virginia;  Bliss, 
Side-Lights  from  the  Colonial  Meeting- House;  Bradford,  History  of 
Plymouth  Plantation;  Bradstreet,  Several  Poems  Compiled  with 
Great  Variety  of  Wit  and  Learning;  Brooks,.. Dames  and  Daughters  of 
Colonial  Days;  Brown,  History  of  Maryland;  Brown,  Mercy  Warren; 
Bruce,  Economic  Forces  in  Virginia  in  the  Seventeenth  Century; 
Bruce,  Institutional  History  of  Virginia  in  17th  Century;  Bucking 
ham,  Reminiscences;  Byrd,  Writings;  Cable,  Strange,  True  Stories 
of  Louisiana;  Cairns,  Early  American  Writings;  Calef ,  More  Won 
ders  of  the  Invisible  World;  Campbell,  Puritans  in  Holland,  England 
and  America;  Chastellux,  Travels;  Coffin,  Old  Times  in  the  Colonies; 
Cooke,  Virginia;  Crawford,  Romantic  Days  in  the  Early  Republic; 
Crevecoeur,  Letters  from  an  American  Farmer;  Drake,  New  England 
Legends;  Draper,  American  Education;  Duychinck,  Cyclopedia  of 
American  Literature;  Earle:  Child  Life  in  Colonial  Days,  Colonial 
Days  in  Old  New  York,  Customs  and  Manners  of  Colonial  Days, 
Home  Life  in  Colonial  Days,  Margaret  Winthrop,  Sabbath  in  Old 
New  England;  Edwards,  Works;  Firth,  Stuart  Tracts;  Fisher,  Men, 
Women  and  Manners  in  Colonial  Times;  Fiske,  Colonial  Documents 
of  New  York;  Dutch  and  Quaker  Colonies,  Old  Virginia  and  Her 
Neighbors;  Pithian,  Selections  from  Writings;  Franklin,  Writings, 
ed.  Smyth;  Freeze,  Historic  Homes  and  Spots  in  Cambridge;  Gar 
den,  Anecdotes  of  the  Revolutionary  War;  Goodwin,  Dolly  Madison; 


314  Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 

Grant,  Memoirs  of  an  American  Lady;  Griswold,  Prose  Writings  of 
America;  Hammond,  Leah  and  Rachel;  Holliday,  History  of  South 
ern  Literature,  Three  Centuries  of  Southern  Poetry,  Wit  and  Humor  of 
Colonial  Days;  Hooker,  Way  of  the  Churches  of  New  England; 
Howard,  History  of  Matrimonial  Institutions;  Humphreys,  Catherine 
Schuyler;  Hutchinson,  History  of  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony;  Jeffer 
son,  Writings,  Ed.  Ford;  Johnson,  Wonder  Working  Providence  of 
Zion's  Saviour  in  New  England;  Josselyn,  New  England  Rareties 
Discovered;  Knight,  Journal;  Lawson,  History  of  Carolina;  Maclay, 
Journal;  Masefield,  Chronicles  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers;  Mather, 
Diary,  Essay  for  the  Recording  of  Illustrious  Providences,  Essay  to  do 
Good,  Memorable  Providences,  Wonders  of  the  Invisible  World;  Nar 
ratives  of  Early  Maryland;  Onderdonck,  History  of  American  Verse; 
Original  Narratives  of  Early  American  History;  Otis,  American 
Verse;  Peters,  General  History  of  Connecticut;  Prince,  Annals  of 
New  England;  Pryor,  Mother  of  Washington,  and  Her  Times; 
Pynchon,  Diary;  Ravenel,  Eliza  Pinckney;  Robertson,  Louisiana 
under  Spain,  France,  and  United  States;  Rowlandson,  Narrative  of  Her 
Captivity;  Schrimacher,  Modern  Woman's  Rights;  Sewall,  Diary; 
Simons,  Social  Forces  in  American  History;  Smith,  History  of  the 
Province  of  New  York;  Stith,  History  of  the  First  Settlement  of 
Virginia;  Turell,  Memoirs;  Tompson,  New  England's  Crisis;  Tyler, 
American  Literature  in  the  Colonial  Period;  Uurtonbaker,  Virginia 
Under  the  Stuarts;  Vanderdonck,  New  Netherlands;  Van  Rens- 
selaer,  Good  Vrouw  of  Man-ha-ta;  Ward,  Simple  Cobbler;  Weeden, 
Economic  and  Social  History  of  New  England;  Welde,  Short  Story 
of  the  Rise,  Wane,  and  Ruin  of  the  Antinomians;  Wharton,  Martha 
Washington;  Wharton,  Through  Colonial  Doorways;  Wigglesworth, 
Day  of  Doom;  Williams,  Ballads  of  the  American  Revolution;  Win- 
throp,  History  of  New  England;  Wright,  Industrial  Evolution  of  the 
United  States ;  Woolman,  Diary. 


INDEX 


Adams,  Abigail,  66,  69,  72,  79,  82, 
92,  99,  100,  128,  131,  133,  134, 
138,  140,  142,  144,  148,  156,  164, 
229,  235,  244,  303,  307,  308. 

Adams,  Hannah,  91,  92. 

Adams,  John,  80,  90,  303,  308. 

Adultery,  261,  278,  279,  280,  281, 
282,  284,  285. 

Advice,  Matrimonial,  277. 

Affairs,  Domestic,  150. 

Alliott,  Paul,  240. 

American  Museum,  108. 

Amusements,  200,  213  (see  Recrea 
tions). 

Anecdotes  of  the  Revolutionary  War, 
275. 

Annals  of  New  England,  5,  108. 

Antinomians,  41. 

Architecture,  179,  217. 

Arnold,  Margaret,  145,  273. 

Art,  184. 

Attacks,  Indian,  116. 

Attendance  at  Church,  19,  65. 

Autobiography  (Franklin),  268. 


Banns,  201,  258. 

Baptism,  288. 

Beauty   of   Philadelphia   Women, 

229. 

Bee,  Husking,  208. 
Berquin-Duvallon,  239,  240,  242. 
Beverly,  178. 
Bible,  79. 
Bibliography,  313. 
Bigamy,  261. 
Blue  Laws,  208. 
Boarding  Schools,  87,  244. 
Bowne,  Eliza,  170. 
Bradford,  Governor,  6,  96. 
Bradstreet,  Anne,  98,  99. 
Branding,  281,  282. 
Breach  of  Promise,  249. 
Brent,  Margaret,  299. 
British  Social  Customs,  217. 


Buckingham's  Reminiscences,  160. 

161. 

Bundling,  283. 
Bunyan,  John,  4. 
Business,  Women  in,  132,  147. 
Byrd,  William,  36,  102. 


Calef,  Robert,  56,  60. 

Captivity   of    Mary    Rowlandson, 

119. 
Card-Playing,  192,  219,  221,  228, 

231. 
Carolinas,  64,  65,  69,  74,  79,  87, 

105,  132,  174,  175,  183,  236,  246, 

270,  284,  305. 
Catholic  Church,  69. 
Causes  of  Display,  222. 
Ceremony,  Marriage,  258. 
Chastellux,  164,  179,  181,  228,  310. 
Children,  24,  28,  29,  31,  105,  114, 

116,  122,  124,  126,  141,  165,  166, 

206,  211,  213,  214,  215,  270. 
Christmas,  203,  204. 
Church  Attendance,  19,  65. 
Church  of  England,  69. 
Colonial  Woman  and  Religion,  3. 
Comfort  in  Religion,  38. 
Commercial  Initiative,  293. 
Concord,  8. 

Connecticut,  90,  91,  154,  272,  283. 
Connecticut,  General  History  of,  90. 
Consent  for  Courtship,  248. 
Conveniences,  Lack  of,  105. 
Cooking,  106,  107. 
Cooking  Utensils,  108. 
Co-operation,  177. 
Cotton,  John,  32,  34,  42,  43. 
Courtship,  136,  191,  221,  247,  248, 

251,  256,  269,  274,  276. 
Courtship,  Consent  for,  248. 
Courtship,  Unlawful,  248. 
Crevecceur,  St.  John  de,  301. 
Curiosity,  190. 
Custis,  Nelly,  277. 
Customs  in  Louisiana,  238. 


316 


Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 


D 


Dame's  School,  71,  94,  262,  294. 
Dancing,  52,  74,  85,  88,  89,  94,  183, 

185,  193,  200,  207,  220,  227,  229, 

232,  244,  260,  271. 
Day  of  Doom,  10,  11,  15. 
Day  of  Rest,  31. 
Death,  115. 
de  Brahm,  66. 

de  Crevecoeur,  St.  John,  301. 
de  Warville,  Brissot,  183,  219. 
Diary,  Fithian'a,  159. 
Diary,  Mather's,  30. 
Diary,  Sewall's,  14,  15,  28,  57,  63, 

71,  72,  115,  117,  125,  126,  129, 

133,  139,  155,  189,  190,  202,  203, 

207,  265,  280. 
Diary,  Woolman's,  40. 
Display,  Causes  of,  222. 
Divorce,  263. 
Dolls  as  Models,  170. 
Domestic    Happiness,     179,     186, 

210,  211,  270,  272,  288. 
Domestic  Life,  136,  137. 
Domestic  Love,  96. 
Domestic  Pride,  111. 
Domestic  Toil,  105,  116,  233,  272. 
Dowry,  250. 

Drama,  91,  92,  225,  234,  235. 
Drawing,  74,  94. 
Dress,  23,  33,  34,  89,  111,  133,  138, 

141,  142,  152,  153,  164,  167,  168r 

185,  218,  219,  220,  234,  243. 
Dress,   Regulation   by  Law,   152, 

153. 

Dress,  Ridicule  of,  158,  171. 
Dryden,  John,  4. 
Dutch,  67,  69,  71,  72,  73,  76,  154, 

174,  196,  209,  218,  219,  270,  284, 

288. 
Dyer,  Mary,  292. 


Education,  70,  84,  104,  116,  124, 
126,  128,  150,  175,  219,  244. 

Educational  Advantages,  Lack  of, 
91,  92. 

Edwards,  Jonathan,  10,  16,  18,  19, 
20,  98. 

Essay  to  Do  Good,  39. 

Eternity  of  Hell  Torments,  16. 

Etiquette,  74,  89,  225,  231. 


Executions,  197,  279,  280,  292. 
Extravagance,  164,  183,  185,  221, 
223,  229,  232,  234,  243. 


Feasts,  Funeral,  196. 

Feminine  Independence,  275. 

Fithian,  Philip,  75,  159,  179. 

Foibles,  Woman's,  33. 

Food,  106,  107,  139,  178,  185,  211, 

212,  216,  223,  260. 
Fox,  George,  40. 
Franklin, 

101, 

155,  166,  233,  234,  268,  269,  286, 

287,  294. 

Franklin,  Mrs.,  85,  147. 
Frills,  Educational,  86. 
Funeral,  193,  196,  197,  216. 
Funeral  Feasts,  196. 
Funeral  Gloves,  194,  196. 
Funeral  Rings,  194,  196. 
Funeral  Scarfs,  194,  196. 
Furnishings,  House,  106,  137,  181, 

218. 


»jt;urgt;,  t\j. 

din,  Benjamin,(,73,  74,  85,  86," 

.,  115,  132,  136, 138,  144,  147, 


General  History  of  Connecticut,  90, 

190,  207,  298. 
Georgia,  65. 

Gloves,  Funeral,  194,  195. 
Grant's  Memoirs  of  an   American 

Lady,  67,  68,  72,  83,  127,  209, 

211,  213,  217,  270. 


H 


Hair  Dressing,  162. 

Hamilton,    Alexander,    104,    130, 

134,  145,  287. 
Hamilton,    Elizabeth,    104,    145, 

273. 

Hammond,  John,  177,  271. 
Happiness,    Domestic,    143,    144, 

145,  179,  186,  210,  211,  270,  272, 

288. 
Hardships,  3,  6,  7,  8,  115,  117,  118, 

303,  305,  306,  308. 
Harvard,  79. 
Heroism,  309. 
History     of     Massachusetts     Bay 

Colony,  39,  42,  43. 


Index 


317 


History  of  New  England,  24,  48, 

142,  198. 

History  of  North  Carolina,  132. 
History  of  Plymouth  Plantation,  6. 
History  of  the  Dividing  Line,  36. 
History   of  the   Province   of    New 

York,  218. 

History  of  Virginia,  178. 
Home  Life,  95,  124,  128,  132,  133, 

134,  136,  137,  140,  145,  149. 
Hoop  Petticoats,  161. 
Hospitality,    174,    182,    186,    188, 

213,  215. 
House  Furnishings,  106,  137,  181, 

218. 

Huguenots,  65. 
Husking  Bee,  208. 
Hutchinson,  Anne,  39,  40,  41,  42, 

43,  57,  291,  292. 
Hutchinson,  Margaret,  162. 


Ignorance,  70,  76,  78,  94,  244. 
Illustrious  Providences,  26,  27. 
Indented  Servants,  271,  279,  284. 
Independence,  Feminine,  275. 
Indian  Attacks,  116. 
Inherited  Nervousness,  28. 
Initiative,  85,  147,  291,  293,  303. 
Inquisitiveness,  190. 
Interest  in  Home,  136. 
Irregular  Marriage,  278. 
Irving,  Washington,  283. 
Isolation,  Southern,  174. 


Jamestown,  5,  65,  174. 

Jefferson,    Thomas,    74,    75,    138, 

143,  287. 

Johnson,  Edward,  7,  8. 
Jonson,  Ben,  4. 

Josselyn,  John,  49,  205,  286,  289. 
Journal,  Fox's,  40. 
Journal,  Knight's,  206,  210,  212. 
Journal,  Winthrop's,  34. 


Kidnapping,  122. 
Knickerbocker  History,  283. 
Knight,  Sarah,  154,  206,  210,  212. 


Laws,  278,  286,  288,  289,  297. 

Laws,  Blue,  208. 

Laws,  Marriage,  260. 

Laws,    Regulation    of    Dress    by, 

152,  153. 

Lawson,  John,  132. 
Leah  and  Rachel,  177. 
Lecture  Day,  201. 
Legal  Powers  of  Women,  297. 
Letters,  187,  273,  277. 
Letters  from  an  American  Farmer, 

301. 

Letters  of  Abigail  Adams,  67. 
Liberty   to   Choose   in   Marriage, 

255. 

Life,  Domestic,  136,  137,  139. 
Life  of  Cotton  Mather,  124. 
Louisiana,  69,  183,  238. 
Love,  Domestic,  96-102,  273. 
Luxury,   176,  211,  212,  217,  218, 

219,  229,  232,  234. 


M 


Madison,  Dolly,  168,  269,  297. 
Marriage,  247,  286. 
Marriage  Advice,  277. 
Marriage  Ceremony,  258. 
Marriage  Irregularities,  278. 
Marriage,   Liberty  to  Choose  in, 

255. 

Marriage  Restrictions,  260,  279. 
Marriage,  Romance  in,  272. 
Maryland,  69,  174. 
Mather,  Cotton,  10,  16,  21,  30,  39, 

50,  51,  53,  56,  58,  88,  115,  124. 
Mather,  Increase,  26,  27,  52,  55. 
Mather,  Samuel,  124. 
McKean,  Sally,  170. 
Mechanical  Aids  in  Education,  90. 
Memoirs  of  an  American  Lady,  67, 

68,  209,  217. 

Memoirs  of  Hannah  Adams,  91,  92. 
Memorable  Providences,  21. 
Memorial  of  the  Present  Deplorable 
.    State,  117. 
Men's  Dress,  167. 
Meschianza,  168,  227. 
Methodists,  65,  68. 
Milton,  John,  4. 
Morals,  238. 


318 


Woman's  Life  in  Colonial  Days 


Moravians,  87,  269. 

More    Wonders    of    the    Invisible 

World,  56,  60. 
Mothers,  Tributes  to,  129. 
Music,  34,  35,  74,  85,  86,  88,  94, 

179,  184,  193,  219,  244,  296. 


N 


Negroes,  105,  240,  241,  284. 

Nervousness,  22,  25,  28. 

New  England  History  and  General 
Register,  59. 

New  England' s  Crisis,  301. 

New  England's  Rareties  Discov 
ered,  49,  205. 

New  York,  64,  67,  68,  69,  71,  72, 
76.  94,  107,  127,  154,  167,  174, 
209,  216,  217,  221,  246,  270,  284. 

Norwood,  Henry,  3. 


Orphans'  Court,  77. 
P 

Parental  Training,  124. 
Patriotic  Initiative,  303. 
Pennsylvania,  64,  78,  87,  88,  109, 

236,  268. 

Pennsylvania  Packet,  109. 
Peters,  Samuel,  90,  190,  207,  298. 
Petticoats,  Hoop,  161. 
Philadelphia,   167,   168,  226,  229, 

230,  235,  286,  294. 
Pinckney,  Eliza,  65,  69,  80,  102, 

126,  134,  145,  164,  175,  181,  182, 

184,  244,  255,  295,  305. 
Pintard,  James,  220. 
Plymouth,  5,  6,  71,  79. 
Politics,  143,  144,  293,  299. 
Prayers  for  the  Sick,  201. 
Presbyterians,  65. 
Pride,  Domestic,  111. 
Prince,  Thomas,  5. 
Privations,     114,     115,     149     (see 

Hardships). 

Progress  of  Dulness,  172. 
Public  Affairs,  Women  in,  142. 
Punishment,   247,   248,   261,   278, 

282,  285,  286,  289,  292. 
Pyuchon,  Judge,  192,  193,  260. 


Quakers,  40,  68,  268,  292,  293. 
R 

Raillery  at  Dress,  158. 
Rebellion,  Female,  41. 
Recreation,  91,  178,  189,  193,  200, 

207,  213,  220,  222,  225,  226,  232, 

234,  235,  237,  260,  263,  270,  272. 
Religion,  3,  10,  63,  100,  115,  189, 

212,  293,  298. 
Religion,  Comfort  in,  38. 
Religious  Initiative,  291. 
Remarkable  Providences,  55. 
Reminiscences,  Buckingham's,  160, 

161. 

Restrictions,  Marriage,  260. 
Restrictions,  Social,  205. 
Ridicule  of  Dress,  158,  171. 
Rings,  Funeral,  194,  196. 
Romance,  Marriage,  272. 
Rowlandson,  Mary,  119. 
Rowson,  Susanna,  87. 

S 

Sabbath,  31-33,  65. 

Salem  Witchcraft,  41,  47-63. 

Scarf,  Funeral,  194,  196. 

Scarlet  Letter,  281. 

School,  Boarding,  87,  244. 

Schuyler,  Catherine,  73,  91,  106, 
110,  115,  134,  145,  244,  309,  310. 

Seminary,  Female,  87,  94,  166. 

Separations,  263. 

Servant,  Indented,  271,  279,  284. 

Sewall,  Samuel,  14,  15,  28,  57,  71, 
72,  96,  115,  117,  124,  125,  126, 
129,  133,  138,  147,  152,  155,  189, 
190,  199,  200,  201,  202,  203,  207, 
247,  250,  251,  256,  258,  263,  265, 
279,  280,  293,  294. 

Sewing,  93,  110. 

Shakespeare,  4,  5. 

Short  Story  of  the  Rise,  Wane,  and 
Ruin  of  the  Antinomians,  47. 

Simple  Cobbler,  158. 

Sinners  in  the  Hands  of  an  Angry 
God,  18. 

Size  of  Family,  114. 

Slaves,  65,  105,  110,  112,  175,  245, 
284. 


Index 


319 


Smith,  John,  4,  64. 

Smith,  William,  218. 

Social  Customs,  British,  217. 

Social  Life,  113,  174,  181,  189,  209, 

219,  225,  226,  231,  232,  235,  236, 

237,  238,  270. 
Social  Restrictions,  205. 
Southern  Dress,  153. 
Southern  Hospitality,  174. 
Southern  Isolation,  174. 
Southgate,  Elizabeth,  225. 
Speech,  Violent,  287. 
Special  Social  Days,  201. 
Sphere,  Woman's,  142. 
Spinsters,  262. 
Spirit  of  Woman,  3. 
Splendor  in  Southern  Home,  179. 
St.  Cecilia  Society,  184. 
Surrage,  Agnes,  274. 


Temple,  Charlotte,  87. 
Thanksgiving,  203,  205. 
Theatre,  234,  235  (see  Drama). 
Thompson,  Benjamin,  301. 
Toil,  Domestic,  105,  107,  108,  111, 

113,  116,  135,  136,  150. 
Training,  Parental,  124. 
Travel,  187. 

Travels,  Chastellux,  164. 
Trials,  197. 

Tributes  to  Mothers,  129. 
Trumbull,  John,  171. 
Turell,  Jane,  82,  130,  134,  145,  277. 

U 

Unlawful  Courtship,  240. 
Utensils,  Cooking,  108. 


Violent  Speech,  287. 

Virginia,  64,  68,  69,  71,  74,  77,  79, 
94,  105,  166,  167,  174,  176,  183, 
236,  246,  279,  271,  289,  305. 

Voyage  to  Virginia,  3. 

W 

Ward,  Nathaniel,  158. 

Warren,    Mercy,    67,    69,    79,    83, 

100,  101,  134,  145,  309. 
Washington,  George,  96,  101,  104, 

139,  165,  167,  175,  183,  186,  187, 

222,  223,  232,  235,  277,  297. 
Washington,  Martha,  67,  80,  101, 

104,  112,  134,  135,  140,  141,  164, 
165,  169,  183,  186,  187,  188,  220, 

223,  225,  233,  297,  304,  308. 
Weddings,  247,  286. 

Welde,  Thomas,  46. 

Wesleys,  65. 

Whitefield,  George,  65. 

Why  Saints  in  Glory  will    Rejoice 

to  see  the  Torments  of  the  Damned, 

19. 

Wigglesworth,  Michael,  10. 
Williams,  Roger,  34. 
Winthrop,  John,  23,  24,  26,  34,  37, 

39,  44,  48,  88,  96,  142,  145,  198, 

279,  288. 

Winthrop,  Margaret,  9,  39,  97, 134. 
Witchcraft,  41,  47-63,  294. 
Woman's  Trifling  Needs,  309. 
Women  in  Politics,  293,  299. 
Wonders  of  the  Invisible  World,  21, 
50,  51,  56,  58. 

Wonder  "Working  Providence,  7. 
Woolman,  John,  40. 
Work,    Domestic,    105,    107,    108, 

111,  113,  114,  116,  135,  136,  150. 


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